Float Like a Butterfly
by Mocha2
Summary: Max is sprung from Manticore by transgens who want her dead, not to mention the fact that Logan has moved on and has a deadly secret. COMPLETE
1. The Censoring

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 1: The Censoring  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** After some telepaths break Max and Zack out of Manticore, she asks Logan to make a career-altering decision. Bold type is... Well, you'll find out so on enough! Some swearing.  
**Rating:** PG 13

Max tried to roll over and snapped awake. She was in restraints. Not only that, she was in a hospital room--one she recognized. When she'd got appendicitis at the age of seven, she'd been in here, she'd woken up the same way. Sleeping on her side was more comfortable, but no, she was practically tied to the bed. Max relaxed and thought back to her only memory of what had happened. Yes, she'd been shot, and she passed out in Logan's arms. That was all she remembered, and even that was a bit fuzzy. What the hell had she been doing in a place where she would get shot? Max usually wasn't silly enough to let herself get shot. 

She heard some vials smash and tried to focus her eyes. Yes, vials were indeed smashing. But nothing was smashing them. They rose from their places around the rooms and imploded loudly. Straining her ears, she discovered there were vials and things bursting in other rooms as well. Max closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Vials do not smash on their own, it must've been a dream. 

She'd barely taken a few breaths when her restraints loosened. Her eyes opened and she looked around. There was no one there, and yet the restraints were completely undone. Relishing in the freedom this gave her, she sat up and almost screamed in pain, then snapped herself back down. _Fuck, that hurt._ She raised her hospital gown with one hand and peeked at her chest. Except for a big-ass line of stitches, she was fine. The pain dissapated and the vials stopped smashing. 

**Get up and be a bit more quiet this time,** another voice interrupted her thoughts. Max looked around, bewildered. There was no one else there, but she could hear--**Actually, just stay put, we'll have to move you**. Max closed her eyes and tried to make it all go away. People who were not there were talking to her, there was glass everywhere... She began to rise up from the bed then, as if she was levitating. **Stay completely and totally still,** the voice said to her. Max tried to push any kind of panic back and just go to sleep. _This is not happening..._

She woke up in a warehouse and looked around frantically. Her chest was much, much less sore and she sat up with ease. "Hello!" she yelled. Her voice echoed in the metallic-tasting air. Looking around, she found she in a small, steel dome that appeared to be barracks. Max realised she was on the top of the bunk bed near one end of the dome, with another ten or so bunk beds in the room. They all had steel frames and white bed spreads, but the pillows seemed to be pretty individual. There were backpacks slung over the corner of many bunks, but no one was in the room. Max checked her outfit--She was still wearing a gown. _Ew_. 

She hopped off the bunk and took some shoes and pants from a neighbouring bunk. _I'll return them, they won't mind... Hey, there's a shirt too._ Max realised with satisfaction that the owner of the clothes was female and her size. She rummaged through the bag that she'd found the clothes in, found a hairbrush, yanked it through her hair, replaced it, and threw her gown back on her bunk so it wouldn't be taken. Now dressed in a nice pair of jeans, a fitted red t-shirt and old sneakers, she blazed across the room and stopped at the door. 

Max knocked on it and it clanged. She yelled "Open sesame!" and it stared back at her. She searched for buttons on either side of the door and found none, so she began kicking at it. 

"Open fuckin' sesame!" She jumped high into a spinning kick, aiming to collide with the door, which opened suddenly. The man about to walk through it fought back, grabbing her leg and throwing her to the floor. She sprang up feet first and hit him in the face, then bombarded him with a series of kicks and punches, most of which he returned, knocking her on the ground again. _Shit, whoever this is, he's really bloody strong._ Without thinking she jumped up and flipped him over and onto the ground, landing on him, and stared into Zack's face. 

"What the hell?" The said together. Max rolled off and sat on a bunk. The door had closed while they were fighting. He sat beside her. 

"What are _you_ doing here?" Max asked, looking at him again. She looked away. "What am _I_ doing here..." 

"We both got busted out of Manticore," Zack said briskly. "We both ended up there after we tried to blow the place up. I got shot, so did you... But part of your heart collapsed and they took Brin's heart and gave it to you... Dunno how she died." His voice faltered on the last sentence. 

"Smoke inhalation, I bet," Max grunted. "I sort of... Handcuffed her to something before we set the bombs off." 

"So it was _your_ fault?" Zack was back to his usual pissed-off self, it seemed. 

"It's my fault anyway, I didn't fight my clone. Stupid me, asking if she knew who I was... I'm such an idiot... If I'd overpowered her, I'd be at the Crash right now instead of sitting in a steel room with my brother putting me on a guilt trip about something I can't control." 

"You act like Renfro's a bitch for killing Tinga and then you kill--" 

"She wasn't one of us any more, Zack," she said softly. "She would've gladly returned my favour, except, well, I've got her heart." 

Zack was quiet for a moment. "Damnit Max, she _was_ one of--" 

"Just drop it," she gave him a cold look. "If I hadn't done that, she would've disarmed the bombs." 

"Blowing the place up didn't get us anywhere." 

Max changed the subject. "Have you been hearing anyone else's thoughts lately?" Zack stared at her for a moment as if she was insane and shook his head. "Some voice thing broke all these vials back at Manticore and lifted me up out of the bed and talked to me and I'm not sure if I'm dreamin' or not..." The large doors opened and a slim, red-headed woman walked through. She tucked her shoulder-length curls behind one ear and put a hand on her hip. The light in the room caught on a small, metallic badge on her shirt. 

"Mission briefing. Room 345. I'll have to open the doors for you, seeing as you don't have the power to open them." Max and Zack glanced at each other, then followed the woman. 

------ 

"I suppose you're wondering about us," the woman said. They seemed to be in a board room, a few minutes' walk from the barracks. It was a regular office boardroom with swivl chairs and a slide screen, but Max noticed the chair adjusted itslef to her when she sat. The metal doors to that room squeaked closed and they all cringed at the noise. Max and Zack sat across from each other at the twelve-person table. 

"We're not Manticore. We're better. Slightly the same, but better," she stood in front of the table. "You see, when your group was made... X5, if I do recall... One of the lab techs snuck some stuff out for us. Basically, X5 building blocks. And I don't mean the wooden type. From your genes, we made an even more superior being. No seizures," Max rolled her eyes. "We kept Ye Olde Big Brother well intact, though. Nothing much we had to change about you, Zack. You're a product of your environment, unlike Max." Max rolled her eyes again. "Basically, we are stronger, quicker, do not go into heat--" this got another rolling eye from Max--"do not need to sleep, and can communicate with our minds. Some of us can even do that when we talk. I'm telling Sebastian about the crab legs I had last night for dinner right now." 

"Yeah, you're superior. Would you mind letting us go, now? We might have places to be," Max rolled her eyes again. 

"You should stop doing that or the eyes will roll right of your head." Max sighed instead and the woman continued. "My name is Ima, by the way." 

"Ima Super-Duper-Revved-Up-Chick-Who-Talks-Like-She-Owns-Anyone-Below-Her?" Max said under her breath. Zack chuckled and the Ima smirked. 

"My hearing and eyesight are also far superior to yours," she kept smirking, then went back to her serious expression. "You're a friend of Eyes Only, correct?" She spoke to Max. 

"I know an informant." 

"Well, our society depends on Manticore. Eyes Only has plans to expose them, and if he does that, they'll have to shut down and systematically kill any Manticore ties--including us. We freed you both because we know that you can get to the man behind the mask. Not to worry, though, Manticore will approve and as long as you guys are good little bunnies and don't do anything bad, we won't have to kill you." Max looked a bit worried so Zack responded. 

"Basically you want us to bring down the good guy?" 

"Only if it comes to that. If he broadcasts about Manticore, we're in danger. You're in danger." Ima wasn't being stern any more, but more like someone who was actually afraid for their life. "If you succeed I'll make sure Manticore never, ever brings you back as a soldier. You'd be an agent for us. You have _some_ telepathic ability in you, we just have to find it," she was bargaining now. 

"I'd have to kill him," Max said softly. "I doubt Eyes Only would give up on a cause like that, especially for Manticore helpers like yourselves." 

"Pssst, Max, your life depends on it," Zack grunted. "Of course he will." 

"Are you two done? Anyway, we're in a mountain right now. Your ride to Seattle has been arranged. Don't tell Eyes Only too much, just enough for him to stop the newscast." She threw a glance at Max. "Go back to Logan's alone, let Zack wait in the hallway in case he's got armed bodyguards again." 

"How did you know he had a bodyguard?" 

"You told me about the night you broke in," Ima smiled widely. "You told me who Eyes Only was." Max looked down. "Just go through doors where other people are entering. You're leaving from Docking Boy 6. Turrah then." 

"Wait just a second," Max interrupted. "If we solve this problem for you, then Manticore leaves us be and so do you guys, agreed? We don't want Manticore to have _any_ reason to come after us We're doing _you_ a favour." 

"You're doing yourself a favour too." 

"Total immunity or you guys can just do things the hard way," she told Ima. 

"Fine. Don't screw up and you guys will be--" 

"Dead? Yeah, we know." 

------ 

Zack walked through the busy corridors with his arm around Max, who had started crying a bit. "It's all my fault. I'll have to kill him or format his computer and wreck his little protect-the-down-trodden plan." 

"No, you didn't. Don't start worrying until he puts us on the news," Zack said soothingly. He rubbed Max's arm with his hand as they walked. She pulled away from him and continued walking. "Are you gonna be okay?" 

"Yeah," she sniffed, pulling herself together. "Oh, Manticore knows exactly who Eyes Only is and where he lives, and he's about to tell the whole world where we are and they'll have to kill us, yeah, I'll be okay." She folded her arms across her chest. 

"Docking Bay 6," Zack said happily and they stood by the door, waiting for it to open. Finally, he grabbed someone from the crowd and had them open it. They walked through. It was cold outside. They seemed to be in a parking lot, but there was only one car--a rather nice, red Sportage--and they went over to it. The driver rolled down the window. 

"Zack and Max?" 

----- 

They arrived at Foggle Towers the next morning. It had been almost a six-hour drive and Max was starting to see that Zack was badly jet-lagged. She hauled him out of the SUV with her and waved a thank-you to the driver. 

"Okay, so what's the plan again?" 

"You and me broke out of Manticore and came here, 'and oh, by the way Logan, pretty please don't expose Manticore's location, lest they kill me'," he smirked tiredly. 

"Plan B," she said, opening the doors to the lobby. The walked through and picked the second door, the one most people just use a key for or have someone buzz in them in at. 

"Plan B is Spill the Beans. I don't think Ima wants us to use that," he yawned. 

"Hold on there, don't fall asleep on me just yet." The door opened with it's usual "ping ping ping" noise and she smiled. "Let's go." 

----- 

Max picked the lock on Logan's door with a skilled ease and crept in quietly. She threw a hand signal to Zack, telling him to stay put. He shrugged and slouched against the elevator. 

Logan was sitting on the couch, watching a sitcom. _It must be some old show in syndication, it's pretty damned early._ He chuckled at a joke and so did she, and he jerked around. Max waved sheepishly. 

"Max." 

"Logan." They were silent for a few moments, and they just just looked at each other. Finally Max turned around and called to Zack to come in and go take a nap in the guestroom. When she went back to facing Logan, he was right in front of her. 

"Hi." 

"Hey... You, um, want some spaghetti?" They both seemed a little uncomfortable, like it had been before he kissed her on their anniversary. It worried Max a bit, so she broke the slience and kissed him. He responded out of instinct for a moment, then pulled away. 

"Max..." 

"What?" She asked, confused. _Has he got a girlfriend or something? Geez, I die and he's dating again, barely two months later. What a prat._ She bit her lip and closed her eyes. "There's someone behind whose presence will be an embarrassment I'll never live down, isn't there." 

"Uh, yeah, actually. Max, meet Asha." Max turned and opened her eyes. A pretty blonde had her arms crossed on her chest, slightly hiding a nice blue shirt with wacky little pockets in a row across her bust. Below that she wore black, boot-cut pants and running shoes. Her hair was cut just below her ears. "She's with the S1W." Asha waved a bit. 

"Does she know about me?" Max half-mouthed, half-whispered. Logan nodded. "Does she know about you?" 

"She thinks I'm an informant he mouthed, because he knew she could read his lips. Max ran her tongue over he teeth and turned back to Logan. 

"Y'know that whole blow-the-lid-off-Manticore master plan? Drop it," she told him bitterly. He looked a bit taken aback as he leaned on the back of the couch. 

"Any particular reason?" Max nodded and looked at Asha. "Could you chill in the hallway for a moment? I gotta speak to my buddy in here." 

"Is it about your furry little friends?" Asha suggested. Max gave her an evil look. 

"_Excuse_ me? Furry little friends?" Max put her hands on her hips. 

"Um, look, I think I'll go chill in the hallway--" Asha pointed towards the still-open door as she spoke and then ran out of it, closing the door behind her. Max sighed heavily and sat down on a chair in the pseudo-living room, and Logan sat back down on the couch. 

"Look, I didn't think you would actually be coming ba--" 

"Don't worry about it, it's not important right at this second," she said, trying to guise her dissappointment. 

"So what _is_ so important right at this second?" 

She told him the entire story, including how she would have to kill him or format his computer if he didn't agree. 

"Fine," he nodded. "If your life depends on it, not a word about Manticore will pass my lips." 

"Okay then, about Asha." 

"She's not really my girlfriend, more of a replacement butt-kicker. I help the S1W, she kicks some ass." 

"Didn't we start out like that?" Max smiled. "Ah, I get it. Don't mack on the girlfriend in front of your buddy, eh?" 

Logan cringed a little at the word 'girlfriend' but nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't 'mack' on you in front of Cindy." 

"Aww, you wouldn't kiss me in public?" 

"It's different when there's only one person in the room and they need to talk to you," he told her. 

"Yeah, I see your point," Max smiled. "I'd better let Asha back in, huh?" Logan chuckled and nodded. Max got up and started to walk to the door, then turned to face him. "I'm sorry about being a bit of an ass," she apologized. 

"It's okay," he said, getting up to follow her to the door. "And you're still my resident butt-kicker." 

"Damn, I hope so. I gotta do something instead of sleeping," she laughed. Logan beat her to the door and opened it and Asha came back in. 

"Hey. So what was that about, furry little friends-related business?" Asha asked innocently, obviously meaning no insult. Max looked insulted anyway. 

"Excuse me?" Max spat. 

"Well, y'know, you guys have animal DNA... Wouldn't be suprised if there were like, mutants or something that looked more animal than human. Even humans fuck up and stuff, y'know?" Asha looked at Logan for support once or twice and used her hands to express herself too much. _Other than the fact she's a ditz, I'd better get along with her,_ Max thought. 

"I'll see you at Crash, Logan," Max said, feeling tinges of jealousy every time Asha breathed. "I gotta bathe." She turned to Asha. "Me and my 'furry little friends' wish you the best of luck with whatever Eyes Only mission you're going to be doing tonight, Asha." She said "furry little friends" like a grade school child saying cuss words. Logan stiffened a bit. 

"Uh yeah, I'll see you there," he cut in as Asha opened her mouth to talk. 

"Bye," she smiled and left, then poked her head in the door. "And my furry little friends would like to meet you sometime." 

----- 

Max knocked at her apartment. She didn't want to scare her boo shitless by showing up after being dead. She had to wait a while and she got time to think. _Wow, we're actually a couple... Neither of us is denying it or anything. Cool._ The door opened and Original Cindy was standing there. 

"I had this dream last night, actually. Goodbye," she said lazily, shutting the door. Max pushed it open and bear-hugged her friend, who thankfully hugged back. 

"You really _are_ back," Cindy said, releasing Max. The two girls smiled. 

"We got any hot water? I feel dirty." 

"What'd you do this time?" Cindy laughed. Max giggled and ransacked the linen closet for towels, finding two. 

"Here we go," Max held up the towels. "You goin' to Crash tonight?" She put the towels over her arm and grabbed the shampoo and soap. 

"Hell yeah, everyone's going tonight, boo," her friend smiled. "Hot boy comin', too?" 

"Yup," she said. "I hope he leaves the blonde at home, though." 

"Blonde?" 

"Asha, the new butt-kicker." Max grabbed the shaving cream after taking a thoughtful look at the shelves. "Anyway, gotta bathe, maybe go to Jam Pony and beg for a job." 

----- 

"Ain't what you're wearin' just fine, boo?" Cindy stood with her hands on her hips. It was about seven o'clock in the evening and Max was getting ready to go to the Crash. 

"No, I have to look nice tonight," she said, staring down at her jeans and t-shirt. She chose a tight, longer-sleeved leather jacket, a pink tank top, and a blue, long sleeved shirt. She noticed she'd forgotten something and grabbed a pair of bootcut jeans as well. 

"Original Cindy gonna be straight wit' you, boo, that's exactly what you're wearin' now." 

"It is not," she told her, grabbing a pair of undies from her dresser. "Alright, leave the room for a moment, pretty please," Max grinned. She felt someone else's presence in the apartment. 

"Hey Max, you here?" came Zack's voice. 

----- 

"Well, okay, I'm goin' home. You got my plane tickets to Toronto?" Asha leaned against Logan's computer desk. 

"Come by tomorrow morning, I'll have them by then," he told her. 

"Awesome. So you think it's some Manticore folks tryin' to pull this off? I mean, a second Pulse... Silly fuck-ups," Asha said with disbelief. 

"Yeah. I may ask Max and Zack to go with you, in case it _is_ Manticore kids, or just strong guys." Logan logged off his computer and walked into the kitchen. Asha followed close behind. 

"I'm not that weak, y'know," she smiled, grabbing a tomato from the fridge. She bit into it and chewed for a moment, then swallowed. "I just hope you won't have to broadcast about it, if it is Manticore-related. There's practically a gun hanging over your head." 

"What worries me is that Max is the one holding the gun." 

"Yeah..." Asha didn't really know how to respond to that. 

"She said that if she succeeded with this whole Eyes Only, friend of Manticore thing, that the telepathic woman would make sure that there wouldn't be a reason for them to come after Max..." 

"That either means they're going to kill her or reverse her genetic enhancements--like, Manticore wouldn't be after her if she wasn't enhanced. I wonder if reversing it is even possible," Asha spoke like she was programmed to say that, programmed to act sympathetic without being too nice. She took another bite of the tomato. 

"It is possible," he said quietly. "Her sister Jace, her son was 'enhanced'... But it was backwards. Instead of helping it slowly deteriorated him, and made a barcode on the back of his neck. Easily reversed." 

"I wonder if they can reverse actual enhancements. Or enhance them after birth..." 

"Yup. She went to this press thing in March or so, and they had a little boy there who had been enhanced after he was born. There's only one person who would know if Max was enhanced after she was born though." 

"And that is?" 

"Donald Lyde-" The phone rang and Asha beat Logan to it. 

"Cale residence. Oh, hello Max... Look, I'm _sorry_ about the furry friends thing, okay? Oh, right. I'll let him know. Okay. Buh-bye now." She hung up and turned to Logan. "Aren't you supposed to be at the Crash?" 

"Oh shit," he grabbed his coat and was about to leave. "You wanna come?" 

"I'd better not. Who was this guy, though? Donald Lyde--" 

"Donald Lydecker. See if you can find him, get him on the phone. Let yourself out when you want," he called from the hallway. The door closed and Asha walked over to the computer and signed in, then searched Logan's database. 

Search: Donald Lydecker

She hit Enter and a face came up. Old, chiseled with some wrinkles. Squinty, beady eyes. She would recognize him if she saw him in the street. She searched through the file and found Lydecker's phone number. 

"Hello?" 

"Hello, this is a friend of Logan Cale." 

"Ah. Well, you must be a friend if you actually know his name. And what in the hell do you want?" He sounded impatient, perhaps a little drunk. 

"Well, I was wondering about one of your X5s..." 

"Let me guess, Max." He burped loudly into the phone and Asha winced. 

"Yeah, her. Was she enhanced before or after she was born?" 

"What the hell?" 

"Was she enhanced into an X5 after she was born, I mean." 

"The only thing we did to her, before she was born, was her looks and some... Enhancements. She's a bit faster, stronger, and smarter than your average bear. But her X5 traits... That came after." 

"Do you remember a child named Case? Apparently they messed with him afterwards and reversed it easily." 

"Yeah, they could probably do the same to her... If they did, a regular X5 could squash her. Maybe not a regular person off the street, but..." 

----------------------- 

CHAPTER TWO PREVIEW 

"Mmmff... What are you...breaking," he mumbled, rolling over and going back to sleep. Max got up and returned with a hand sweeper, cleaned up the broken mug. Some writing on a broken piece of glass from the mug caught her eye. The coffee cup had been one of those cheesy "Your Name in Twenty Languages", and it looked to be Logan's. She held it between her left thumb and forefinger and stared at it. The piece she had picked up showed Logan's name in beautiful cursive writing. She smashed it with those fingers alone and began shaking, suddenly aware of her immense power... 


	2. Share and Share Alike

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 2: Share and Share Alike  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max and Logan's relationship hits some deadly turbulence when they explore feelings for other people... Meanwhile, he asks her to go on a mission that she likely won't come back from. Bold type is... Well, you'll find out so on enough! Some swearing.  
**Rating:** PG 13

Max dismounted her bike at the back door of the Crash and batted at the kickstand with her foot. She heard someone behind her and turned. A blonde man, a couple years older than her, looked pretty pissed off. "What's up, Zack?" 

"Ima came over to your place looking for you. She wants to meet you at some warehouse a few blocks from here," he grunted.

"Well hot diggity damn," she said sarcastically. "I've got a date with some uber-super-human telepath chick. At a warehouse I've never heard of before." 

"It sounds pretty wierd to me, too," Zack observed. Max climbed back on her bike and he climbed on with her. 

"You need me to drop you off at the Quik-E-Mart or something?" She asked, revving the bike. 

"No. I'm coming with you," he yelled over the motor. 

------ 

Zack and Max stood at the doors of the warehouse and a red-headed woman in a duster walked up. A small, hand-held machine glistened in the moonlight, held by her right hand. 

"Hey. Come here a moment, Max," Ima nodded towards the curly-haired brunette that faced her. 

"How 'bout you make me?" 

"I would," Ima murmered, sauntering over, "but I haven't got my badge on... I'm not a born and bred telepath, you know. Just a regular human being. Turn around and hold still." Zack chuckled and Max belted him in the gut, then obeyed the woman. Ima ran the small metallic machine across the barcode on the back of Max's neck and then pulled away. 

"There we go," she replaced the handheld scanner-like object in her coat. "Not a single reason for Manticore to track you down. Welcome to normalcy." 

"What?" Max spat. 

"You were tampered with after birth, Max. Your X5 abilities aren't... Shall we say.. Handcoded," Ima said, pacing in front of Max, watching her anger slowly build. 

"Gee, how on earth will I kick ass now... What's that.. Like this?" Max jumped into a flurry of kicks and punches, all of which hit Ima, knocking her to the ground. Zack looked on, amazed. She was even faster and stronger than she had been before. She remained in a fight stance, looming over Ima. "Experience, darling, is more than enough." She knocked her out, then helped Zack tie Ima to a chair in the corner of the warehouse, then stood in the middle of the abandoned factory. 

"Alright, let's go," Zack told her, pulling off his jacket. "Hit me." Max shook her head at him and walked towards the doors, but her brother chased after her. She flung him across the room in a single blow. 

"There, I hit you. Let's get back to Crash," she nodded her head towards the door and realized how hard she had hit her brother. He groaned and rolled over from his spot on the floor, and she ran towards him. Zack held his abdomen and looked up at her. 

"What the hell was that?" 

----- 

Zack walked to Max's apartment, even though she offered him a ride. She apologised to him, but he didn't turn around.

_What the hell is his problem? All I did was hit him... I just hit him the way I usually would, when we fight for real like that. I'm more powerful for some reason--but wouldn't Ima take away my abilities, not compound them? This is fucking wierd... Maybe Logan will know what to do. He usually does, he's a smart guy. Ugh, I just wish that Zack would wake up and realize that he's more to me than a brother.. He always has been... Or maybe he's just mad that I kicked his ass and only hit him once... _

What the hell is her problem? I tell her to hit me and she sends me flying across the room. Maybe I'm just overreacting. I'll have to talk to her when she gets back. I hope she knows that I'm just pissed because she can ovverpower me--I'm not used to losing before I can even think about winning. 

Max decided to break into Logan's apartment the old-fashioned way. Not through the roof, though. She picked the door and opened it quietly, peeked inside. Asha and Logan were talking about something in he kitchen--she could hear mumbling, but that was it, so she used her super-sensitive hearing. She could hear hair move, pant legs brush against each other, vegetables creak as a knife sliced through them. It scared the shit out of her. 

"How do we know who is even doing this? Or where they are?" Asha asked in her usual, semi-ditz fashion. Max spoke like that sometimes, but not as of late. She could hear Asha fingering Logan's shirt, and his voice almost deafened her. 

"We don't," he said, but in a tone he only used when he talked to Max. Softer, gentler. She leaned agsint the door and listened to the rest of their conversation. She stopped using her heightened hearing and peeked around the door as Logan unsuccessfullydodged Asha's kiss. _Ugh, and with tongue, too! Stupid bastard._ Max silently closed the front door, but the two heard the click as the bolt closed. 

"Who's there?" Came Logan's voice. She hurriedly punched the only elevator button on the wall--which was the down button, because Logan was on the top level--and waited, blinking back tears. _That stupid bastard lied to me. "She's not really my girlfriend," he says. Just a replacement butt-kicker. Fuck. And to think that I almost told him that I--_ The elevator's doors opened smoothly and Logan's swung wide. 

"Max. Look, I didn't want you to find out like this--" 

"Don't even fucking bother," she interrupted, shaking her head and stepping into the elevator. "I'm just glad that you already signed up another butt-kicker, because I don't wish to assosciate with you anymore." 

"Max, please..." The doors glided shut. 

----- 

Max knocked on her door and ended up having to open it herself. She went in, silent, and made herself coffee. She sat on the couch tiredly, but the figure she was sitting on contested. She apologised to Zack again, then sat in an armchair and sipped her coffee. It was almost eleven at night. She finished her drink and put it down on the coffee table. After about an hour or so of sitting there, she began concentrating on the coffee cup, imagining it rising. And it did. This suprised her so much that she released her hold on it and it returned to the table with a terriffic smash. Zack woke up. 

"Mmmff... What are you...breaking," he mumbled, rolling over and going back to sleep. Max got up and returned with a hand sweeper, cleaned up the broken mug. Some writing on a broken piece of glass from the mug caught her eye. The coffee cup had been one of those cheesy "Your Name in Twenty Languages", and it looked to be Logan's. She held it between her left thumb and forefinger and stared at it. The piece she had picked up showed Logan's name in beautiful cursive writing. She smashed it with those fingers alone and began shaking, suddenly aware of her immense power.

Max finished cleaning and went back to sitting in the armchair, then practised on unbreakable objects, like a small stuffed animal on the kitchen counter. She moved it from the counter to her lap and back again, several times. She found that she could pick up the fridge as well, with the same ease. It didn't seem to matter how heavy something was. She moved her shoes to her feet and put them on with her mind, then carefully tied them after many tries. Max moved things around the room for a few hours, completely amused. The sun looked to be coming up soon and she decided to try at making cereal--open the cupboards and the cereal box, pour it in a bowl, put it away, pour the milk in the bowl, put the milk back in the fridge.. By the time she had sat down to eat her Cheerios, she had a terrible headache and didn't even try to open the Tylenol bottle with her mind. Max swallowed the pill and ate her cereal. 

"Mmff... Max?" Zack sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. 

"Yo yo yo," Max said, some milk and a Cheerio dribbling down her chin. She mopped it up with a tea towel and went back to eating. 

"Shouldn't talk with your mouth full," he said observantly. She rolled her eyes and they were quiet for a moment. Max spoke first. 

"I went over to Logan's last night, to ask him about something... And I could hear _everything_... Like, when I used my more sensitive hearing.. I could hear my own heat beast, I could hear cloth rubbing together.. It was really deafening," she twirled her spoon in her cereal absent-mindedly. 

"Yeah, I kinda figured you were a bit more revved-up than usual," he told her, like he already knew that her hearing was over-senstized. 

"So anyways, I--" Cindy walked in. 

"Mornin', boo, and... Zack, right?" Original Cindy was wearing grey pajama pants and bright orange spaghetti-strap top. She turned to Max. "Is he one of yo' Manticore buddies?" Max nodded and the door opened, revealing a sleepy Logan. 

"Get the hell out," she said, without even turning to face him. Zack and Cindy glanced at each other, confused, and Logan walked in anyway. He sat down across from Max at the breakfast table, and she refused to return his gaze. Original Cindy sat down on the couch beside Zack. 

"This is gonna be interestin'," she whispered, getting a nudge in the ribs for a response. 

"I said to get the hell _out_, as in out of my apartment," Max said, looking down at her soggy cereal. 

"Look, Max, I'm sorry, can we just talk about that later--" She gazed at his face for a moment. 

"No, we can't, because there's nothing to discuss. Say your spiel about the other thing and then get the hell out." 

"Your buddies plan to set off another Pulse and I can't say anything about it because you'll have to kill me, remember," he said bitterly. "So I was _wondering_ if you could _ever_ so kindly go in and disarm the bomb." 

"Hello, they're telepaths," she said, getting up to throw out her cereal. "They could stop me. It's pointless." She bit her tongue to avoid telling Logan that she was also a telepath, or she'd be in his service for a long time. 

"Couldn't you at least try?" 

"Try to get myself killed, you mean? Fuck no," she whispered. "First you cheat on me and now you want me to go on a useless suicide mission. Fuck you." The two on the couch were a little shell-shocked by Max's words. 

"I was talking to Ima," he told her, unshaken by what she had just said, "and she said that there's small pins that you can wear, and no one can do anything with their mind to anything within ten feet of it." 

"Fine. But after this, I never want to see you again." There wasn't any hate in her words. 

"Fine." 

"Fine." They stared at each other for almost ten minutes, then Zack announced that he was going to go take a shower. 

----- 

Max walked into Logan's aprtment with her hands over her eyes this time. She could only sense two people in the apartment--but they weren't very close to one another--and took her removed her hands from her face. Asha sat on the couch, Logan sat across from her in a chair . They seemed to have been talking, but they turned to the door when she came in.

"Hi. Sorry for being a bitch, but y'know, getting cheated on hurts my feelings." Max secretly promised herself to get back at Logan in some way, but not right now. "So, where's this pin thing?" 

"Actually, it's a necklace, Ima couldn't get us a pin," Logan told her, walking over. He placed the necklace in her hand and caught her gaze. "I'm sorry." 

Max didn't say anything to that. She undid the clasp and put the necklace around her neck, then redid the clasp. It was a silver chain, with a small ruby pendant rimmed in silver. The pendant didn't seem to be bigger than a small child's fingernail. She fingered it for a second, then looked up at Logan, and spoke without malice. "What happens if they get a hold of some more nukes?" 

"Their accounts have all been frozen... I doubt that'll happen." 

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. "Okay. I'm going to go get Zack then." She nudged the necklace so that it went under her shirt and left. 

----------------------- 

CHAPTER THREE PREVIEW 

"We weren't going out at the time, remember?" Logan told her. "And how do you know all this, Ima?" 

"People tell you a lot when they're stoned on moraphine from having a heart transplant. How come you didn't explain any of this to Max?" 

"It wasn't important." Asha just observed their conversation. Ima and Logan clashed in every way but personality. Holier than thou, with two parts compassion and one part arrogance, especially with each other... 

----- 

"We've got company," Max whispered, snipping the final wire. She tucked the nuke closed and replace her wire cutters. The lack of security in the place irked her to the bone. Where they so arrogant to think that no one would find out that they were sitting on nukes? She heard Zack load a clip into his gun, and stopped him with a hand on his arm. "I could throw them into a wall and snap their necks without lifting a finger," she continued in her hushed tone. "No need for firepower." Zack replaced the gun with a sigh. They slipped back out of the nuke holding room and a taser slammed into Max's side. She let out a scream and collapsed into seizures beside Zack. 


	3. Perfect Version of Myself

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 3: Perfect Version of Myself  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Zack and Max go undercover as telepaths on an Eyes Only mission. Bold type is... Well, you'll find out so on enough! Some swearing. Chapter title from Matthew Good Band - Indestructible.  
**Rating:** PG 13

Max woke with a start. She was sleeping under a piece of camoflage tarp, on another piece of camoflage tarp, with a blanket over her. Well, over her and someone else. Zack had his arm around her. _It's just for warmth. He's your brother. You're in love with Logan, remember? Sure, he's being an ass and you can't trust him anymore... But you're still in love with him. Oh well, he doesn't have to know that you spooned with a guy whose got a crush on you. After all, you didn't need to know that he and Asha were smooching, apparently._ She looked behind her, at Zack. He was sleeping peacefully, even as the Vancouver rain pounded down at the tarp. She thought about waking him but decided that he'd be more on his toes later if he woke up on his own. 

She was about to rest her head when a vehicle came roaring into earshot. She snapped up and turned her head to where the noise had been coming from. If Max closed her eyes and concentrated, she could hear voices about two miles away. It was ever so faint, but definitely a man and a woman. The man called her Asha, and she called him Logan at least once or twice. _Hot damn, they've come to fuck up the plan again,_ she thought. Max woke an already-stirring Zack, spoke to him with hand signals, and they packed up their simple camp and moved the bike to a usable trail, then sped off. 

Meanwhile, on the highway, Asha and Logan stood on the side of the road in the rain. They had gotten out because the Aztek had apparently ran over a medium-sized dog, and were now locked out in the west coast's steady downpour. Asha held her coat over her head and paced, frustrated. Logan stared at the dog and shook his head as the Aztek slowly rolled towards the ditch. 

"I don't have a problem with Max, but she seems to leave a big 'ole trail of trouble behind her.. Like a plane and air interference and what have you," Asha mumbled through chattering teeth. "Doesn't this thing turn into a tent?" 

"Yeah, when the doors aren't _locked_," he said bitterly. _What the hell am I doing with Asha? I meet the perfect girl and completely and totally fuck up any chance I've got with her.. Now she's off with Zack, and he's probably comforting her--_**Logan, where are you?** Someone's thoughts interrupted his own. **I know that you're following us. Please go home.** It was Max. Asha didn't seem hear, so he didn't say anything. The Aztek rolled over a rock and continued towards the ditch. 

"No! No! That's my car!" The trunk suddenly popped and a redhead jumped out, as the car hit the ditch. The trunk slammed closed and Ima let out a frustrated shriek. 

"For christ's sake. Wouldn't it be easier for me to just go with Max and Zack? Apparently not! I don't know how they'll pass for anything there, they don't have telepathic powers," Ima yelled over the now heavier rainstorm. She grabbed her shoe from a puddle and put it back on. Logan didn't say anything, but gave her a look that suggested that her previous statement was incorrect. Max's next message reached all three of the soaked, stranded Seattle folks. 

**We're on a rural highway. Don't come after us, I don't care what your plan is, this is really serious--another Pulse. We can't screw this up and we didn't have a four-person pep talk. Ima, are you there? Are Asha and Logan with you?** Max sounded urgent and a bit too strong. Asha looked dazed. 

"What the hell was that?" She asked, holding her head. 

"I used the wrong..." Ima flung her hands a lot when she spoke, and her superiority was gone. "I used the wrong thing to get rid of Max's powers. She's about five times as strong as she _was_ in every element--physical, sensations--stuff like that. And she can talk with her mind, and um... Move things, too. Anyway, hold on a second." Ima was quiet for a few moments. **Max, I'm with Asha and Logan. The Aztek is in a ditch, we locked the doors and--Well, anyway, we're okay, and we're going to come after you but keep our distance,** Ima replied soothingly. Max's answer came a moment later. 

**Fine. Do you have your pin back? **

Yes, obviously... 

There's guards about a mile away. Just stay close enough to come in and help if needed. We'll talk to you guys later. Max didn't say anything after that and Ima looked back at the drenched duo. The rain smothered itself into a brief sunshower, then stopped completely. 

"How can we hear what Max says, if we aren't telepathic?" Logan asked after a while. 

"Because she wanted you to, I suppose," Ima watched the sky above the trees and farms and Asha began breaking into the car. 

----- 

Max and Zack arrived at an unguarded door to the mountain hideout, Max in her usual leather get-up, Zack in normal clothing. "So, where's this reactor?"

"It's probably underground," she said, opening the door with her mind. Zack didn't notice. "Err wait, it's techincally _all_ undergorund." He didn't say anything and the pair slipped inside a sewer-like atmosphere. Rats squeaked and Max cringed at the noise, having used her sensitive hearing to check for guards. They communicated with their hands and maneuvered themselves to a fork in the 'road'. 

"Where are we going now?" Zack huffed. 

"Shh... Shit, there's guards about a mile away, and they're coming towards us... Hey, there's a 'This way to Nuclear Reactor' sign on that tunnel there," she said, pointing down a hallway to a yellow blob that Zack couldn't see, even with his ehanced vision. They ran towards it, then headed left, just as it said. There was a heavy door with a biohazard signal on it at the end of the sewer. Max peeked inside the small window for camera dn the like and, finding none, she forced the door open with her mind. Zack gave her a look, then decided what he had seen was one of Max's illusions or something. The realization sunk in then. 

"Why are we diarming these things by hand if you can open doors with your mind?" He asked. Max snapped around, looking uncomfortable. 

"I can't remember what the inside of a nuke looks like," she said quietly. "I just... I didn't want to do it wrong and blow us all to smithereens." She was thoughtful for a moment, then looked back at Zack. "Those guards are closing in, but I can slam them into a wall or something. They haven't called for back up, yet," she gestured inside the room. "After you, Zack." 

----- 

"You guys could have just asked me to move the damned thing," Ima said with malice from the backseat. 

"Maybe you should've thought of that before it started raining again," Logan told her, turning on the windshield wipers. Ima had eventually moved the car and unlocked it à la telekinesis, but not until Logan and Asha had both tried to heave it out of the ditch. He slammed to a stop, throwing the girls forward much to their protest, and then back into their seats. Logan eased the car into the forest, just out of view of the mountain and stopped. If they had to move quickly, they'd be able to. 

"So... Are you two sleeping together?" Ima broke the slience and felt their cheeks burn at the question. 

"Did Max ask you to say that?" Logan said calmly, but Ima could feel Asha's own jealousy float into his words, as if they spoke as one. 

"I haven't talked to her since before we got the car out of the ditch, and only about us keeping our distance," there was a smirk in her tone. 

"Yes, we are," Asha said suddenly. _I don't know why it's any of her business... It's probably just to tell Max. May as well speak the truth though, right?_

"So, how long have you known each other?" Ima questioned, as if it was regular banter to poke around in the sex lives of practical strangers. 

"Asha's been doing Eyes Only work for two years," Logan answered with the same casualty. 

"Yeah, but we've only been dating since January--" 

"January?" Ima broke in. "Didn't you and Max start accepting your feelings for each other in May or so?" Asha looked at Logan, shocked. He looked back at her. 

"We weren't going out at the time, remember?" Logan told her. "And how do you know all this, Ima?" 

"People tell you a lot when they're stoned on moraphine from having a heart transplant. How come you didn't explain any of this to Max?" 

"It wasn't important." Asha just observed their conversation. Ima and Logan clashed in every way but personality. Holier than thou, with two parts compassion and one part arrogance, especially with each other... 

----- 

"We've got company," Max whispered, snipping the final wire. She tucked the nuke closed and replace her wire cutters. The lack of security in the place irked her to the bone. Where they so arrogant to think that no one would find out that they were sitting on nukes? She heard Zack load a clip into his gun, and stopped him with a hand on his arm. "I could throw them into a wall and snap their necks without lifting a finger," she continued in her hushed tone. "No need for firepower." Zack replaced the gun with a sigh. They slipped back out of the nuke holding room and a taser slammed into Max's side. She let out a scream and collapsed into seizures beside Zack. 

----- 

Ima's head wracked with severe pain and she grabbed onto the back of Logan's chair, suprising him. She felt like she's just been attacked with tasers, but neither Asha nor Logan had one. 

"Are you okay?" Asha asked. Ima held her head in her hands like a fragile piece of glass and nodded. Asha bit her lip and faced front. 

"I wonder if Max is okay," Logan said, hiding his worry well. 

"She's a telepath... I'm sure she's doing just peachy." After that they waited for almost twenty-four hours, snacking on some food Asha had packed in the trunk of the car, taking naps and listening to the radio. They would get up every hour or two and stretch, but they didn't talk much--and when they did, it was about how nice the weather was being. At the twenty-five hour mark, Logan finnaly spoke up. 

"They've been in there too long," Ima said what was on everyone's mind. She knew that she and Asha were more worried because they should've been than because they cared, and Ima would admit to it in a heartbeat. She didn't know where Logan stood on the situation, however. He obviously cared about and trusted Max, but she seemed more like his muse and friend than a significant other. She was almost positive that he loved Max, and that she loved him, but there was nothing really there. The only thing that seemed to be burning either of them about the whole thing was not getting to talk any more, because he had betrayed her. Ima didn't want to read Logan's thoughts at the moment and fell asleep. An hour later or so, she felt the car move again and knew that they were headed back to Seattle. 

----- 

Max woke a while later, lying in the sewer. The right side of her abdomen burned. She still had a slight seizure and sat up, fished out her packet of Trytophan. She's started carrying around ten or twenty pills in case. She swallowed a few and rested her head against the wall of the hallway. Zack lay shaking a few feet from her, and she nudged him. 

"Am... Am I h-having a seizure?" Max nodded to him and gave him some Trytophan. 

"I think we got pegged with tasers, "Max observed, holding her side. "So why are still down here?" _Why didn't they take us away and kill us or something? This is really screwed up..._

**Are you guys alive in there?** Ima asked. Max's face lit up and Zack gave her a wierd look. 

**We're aiight. We're just going to wait for the side effects of getting stuck with tasers to wear off and then we're going to head back to Seattle. We'll see you guys tomorrow.** "Zack, can you walk?" 

"Yeah," he pulled himself up. "Are we gonna go?" Max nodded and they got up, walking through hallway after hallway after hallway in silence. Max easily opened the outer door with her mind. It swung wide and revealed the small, rocky hill and forest beyond. They ran at their top speeds--Max, of course, ran much faster than Zack. They reached Max's bike in about ten minutes and set off. 

At about ten o'clock, they stopped at a gas station to refill Max's bike. The gas station was actually a huge, pre-Pulse McDoanld's, and Zack ran in to get some Big Macs. Max stood warily by the pumps. She felt tired, worn out. She remembered feeling like this before, with the Red Implant. _You can only rev up a body so much_, she remembered. And she had been revved up already before Ima had fucked up and given her even more power. Max sank against her bike and pulled the gas pumper out of it, and put it back on it's holster. She took her receipt and slid her $100 bill into the bill acceptor. _Fuck, gas is expensive when you get it the legal way._. She parked the bike by the air pumps and sat on the curb. Zack joined her and they ate a late-night meal. She didn't tell him how horrible she felt, how uneasy she was about driving the bike the rest of the way home. 

"So, where am I going to live now?" He asked, trying to engage in easy banter. Max looked like a sick puppy trying to hide it's illness. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm peachy keen," she answered. "I'm just really tired." 

"You don't get tired," he bit off a chunk from his burger. 

"Maybe that's a side effect of being really revved-up," Max suggested. "I slept yesterday, remember?" 

Zack nodded because he was chewing and didn't want to talk with his mouth open. He swallowed and spoke. "I'm leaving Seattle then, I guess." 

"Oh, you would anyway," she told him bitterly, chucking her burger wrapper at the trash can. 

"Fine then, I'll stay." Max gave him a look. "And I won't ask you to come with me when I leave." 

She looked away. "Maybe we should just skip going back to Seattle. Normal wouldn't give me back my job, I can't pay for the apartment, I'm not doing stuff for Eyes Only any more--" She realized what she had just said and drew a nervous breath. 

"Don't worry about it, it's not like I didn't know who Eyes Only was," he said, throwing out his soda. "We'd better go find a place to sleep." They boarded Max's motorcycle and sped off into the night. 

----- 

"I'm sure they're okay. They were okay last time, remember?" Ima consoled Logan. They had dropped Asha off on the way home. and were sitting on the couch in Logan's living room. 

"I'm sure _they're_ fine, I'm just worried about Max," he said, shrugging off Ima's sympathy. "Last time she got really revved up, she almost died." 

She rubbed his back a bit. "Well, dying is no big deal for her, obviously. You care about her, don't you?" He moved away from her. 

"It's that obvious, huh? Guest bedroom's second on the left." He got up and went to bed. Ima thought about what Logan had said and made contact with Max. 

----- 

Maz and Zack finished setting up their small camp and crawled in. It was cold, and Max would've fallen asleep almost immediately in Zack's arms again but Ima was bothering her. 

**So you've added a little extra to the cocktail recently?** Ima asked urgently. Hearing from her in the first place worried Max a little, but the emotion in her thoughts worried her even more. 

**What do you mean? **

I mean, have you revved yourself up lately besides what I did... Ima was being a tad impatient. 

**I stuck a Red implant in my neck to save my roommate once,** Max told her. **Logan and her ended up having to rescue me... I passed out. Just about died,** Max thought tiredly. The other woman picked up on that. 

**Are you feeling okay? You don't sound like it,** she pointed out. 

**I'm _fine_, why does everyone keep asking that?** Max asked 

----------------------- 

CHAPTER FOUR PREVIEW: TRULY MADLY DEEPLY 

Max woke again in Zack's arms and was a bit less freaked out, because this time she was the one who had offered to cuddle. She noticed that she felt sick to her stomach and that her body felt like like lead. Quietly, she rolled out of Zack's arms, out of the small tarp-tent. and threw up several times. He woke up, a bit startled that Max was throwing up, and asked if she was okay. She held up a hand to show that she was fine, then reached for a water bottle and washed her mouth out. 

"We'd better get going," she told him, slightly delirious. He disagreed. 

"No way. You can't drive if you're puking." 

"You can't drive either... Not the bike, anyway..." 

"Yes, I can," he told her, a little forcefully. "Do you have any idea why you're sick? You weren't looking too well last night _before_ we had McDonald's--" Max interrupted him with a hand on his arm. 

"I'm fine," she looked right into his eyes and shook him once or twice. She tried to stand up and found that she couldn't. "Zack..." Max passed out. 

----------------------- 

AUTHOR NOTE 

Quick update: Not telling if it's M/L or M/Z yet! I know it looks pretty M/Z right now, but... Asha's currently with Logan if you were confused about that. There'll be another chapter up by the weekend. 


	4. With Arms Wide Open

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 4: With Arms Wide Open  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max comes out of a coma and does some thinking. Bold type is... Well, you'll find out so on enough! Some swearing. This chapter's title is from a Creed song, and if you've heard it, then you'll know EXACTLY what's happening with Max...   
**Rating:** PG 13

Max woke again in Zack's arms and was a bit less freaked out, because this time she was the one who had offered to cuddle. She noticed that she felt sick to her stomach and that her body felt like like lead. Quietly, she rolled out of Zack's arms, out of the small tarp-tent,and threw up several times. He woke up, a bit startled that Max was throwing up, and asked if she was okay. She held up a hand to show that she was fine, then reached for a water bottle and washed her mouth out. 

"We'd better get going," she told him, slightly delirious. He disagreed. 

"No way. You can't drive if you're puking." 

"You can't drive either... Not the bike, anyway..." 

"Yes, I can," he told her, a little forcefully. "Do you have any idea why you're sick? You weren't looking too well last night _before_ we had McDonald's--" Max interrupted him with a hand on his arm. 

"I'm fine," she looked right into his eyes and shook him once or twice. She tried to stand up and found that she couldn't. "Zack..." Max passed out. 

----- 

Ima snapped awake and walked briskly into the main living area. Logan as making coffee. She tried to reach Max again, but she had been completely blocked off. That only happened in deep sleep, unconsciousness, or death. Max didn't sleep, and if she was dead, Zack might be as well. Ima bit her lip and tried not to show any emotion as she snuck up behind Logan. 

"Good morning," she mumbled, wiping her copper curls away from her face. 

"Sleep well?" Logan's voice was trying to be emotionless, but it came across as cold and worried. "Did you talk to them at all?" 

"Nah, haven't tried," Ima told him, inviting herself to some toast. 

"Don't you think you should?" 

"They're not six, Logan. I'm sure they're fine." 

"Look, I'm sure genetically enhanced killing machines can--" The back of Ima's hand across his face stopped him from continuing. She gave him a hard look, still holding her hand up, ready to slap him again. Logan yelped when she hit him and held the right side of his face with one hand. 

"Don't you _ever_ refer to us as _killing machines_ ever again," she said coldly. 

"Oh, hey guys--" Asha stopped in her tracks in the kitchen 'door' and considered what was going on. Ima stood over Logan, hand held, ready to slap him. Logan was trying to look like he wasn't cowering. Asha opened her mouth to say something and didn't. The other woman relaxed her arms and took Logan's coffee from behind him, and walked out of the apartment. 

"Where are you going?" Logan called after her. 

"Off to go kill something," she yelled. "That _is_ what killing machines do, isn't it?" The door closed softly and the two in the kitchen shared a glance. 

"That was... Awkward," Asha said. "What's going on?" Logan explained it to her, and her expression went from confused to mockingly shocked. 

"Well, that was rude, huh? Just don't do it again," she fingered his shirt. 

"No... It slipped out," he told her sheepishly. She smiled slightly in forgiveness and kissed him. Ima came running back into the apartment, interrupting them. 

"Max is at the McDonald's near our mountain hideout, and she's in trouble," she said, a little breathless. "I hope nothing else came up." 

----- 

"She... She says they'll be here... A while... Far Away... Told her friend to come by... With..." Max passed out again and Zack went back to shaking her and sighed. _She's actually unconscious now,_ he thought. Her eyes fluttered open again. "They're... Here... Go to greenbelt.. Behind parking lot..." Zack nodded and picked her up, heading towards the parking lot. 

"Are you them?" He asked, feeling silly using that kind of grammar. 

"Are you Max and Zack?" The good-looking, brown-haired man asked. _Fuck, he's young,_ Zack thought. _Can't be older than Max... Looks like the kind of kid you'd find at Crash._ Zack nodded and set Max down on the grass. 

"Hmm, well," the stranger bent down and pulled a small, metallic hand-held something out of his jacket and ran it over the back of Max's neck. "I was talking to Ima, and if it is what she thinks it is, Max is just too revved up. Or he Red implant is causing trouble, and if it's that--" he replaced the machine--"then we're screwed, because we can't remove it without killing her. Or it could be one of those X5 viruses--" The man got a good look at Max's face. "I know this chick." 

"You do?" Zack looked at him. 

"She picked me up in a bar last October," he said, a little upset now that she knew her identity. "I followed her around for a couple days." The man was quiet for a moment, then spoke to Zack again. "We'd better keep her somewhere until she wakes up. I've got a small house down the road." 

"We're not going in the mountain, are we?" _Because I bet a lot of money someone's going to recognize us_, he thought. 

"No, because you guys are the ones who fucked up the bombs," the man said. "I was the one who tasered you two." 

Zack restrained himself from saying anything rash and picked Max up again. "Let's go." 

----- 

Ima opened her eyes and hopped of the breakfast island. She brushed her hands together, a little nervous. "Ben found her, but he hasn't got a scanner... That would get rid of all her genetic enhancements, anyway, and I'm guessing that's the problem." 

"It could be something else," Logan offered. 

Asha poked him in the arm playfully. "Oh? Like what?" Logan looked down at his shoes. 

"Like what I hope it _isn't_." 

----- 

"Mmmff... Zack?" Max's eyes fluttered open and she pulled herself up a little bit as the world came into focus. She was in a cozy, cottage-like environment, on a rather nice leather couch. _Whatever fool set me up on here is right stupid. "Gee, excuse me while I puke on your leather sofa, sir"._ She didn't try contacting Ima, but looked around for Zack--or anyone else--instead. Ben walked into the room and she sat up. 

"Ben?!" She asked, as if she was in some sort of dream state and this was not real. "What the fuck?" He sat down beside her and took Max's hand. 

"Chill out," he said in his cute, drunk-but-not swagger. "You passed out in the forest and told Ima, I guess. Anyway, it got around to me." 

"You're... You're a telepath?" Ben laughed at her a bit and smiled. 

"No, damn you, I'm Santa Claus!" He said in a goofy voice. Max smiled momentarily, then jumped off the couch and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Ben followed and tapped on the door. 

"You okay in there?" He asked. The gut-wrenching sound of Max's bile flowing out of her body and into the toilet bowl was his response. She sat back on her heels and tried to think straight. Ben had probably taken away her abilities, of course. She stood, shaking, and pulled her hair from her neck, twisted to check her barcode in the mirror. It was there, but the general area looked a bit irritated and it burned. She felt more stuff come up and leaned over the toilet bowl again. She'd barely eaten in the past few days, and hadn't consumed anything rotten or that usually made her ill. Suddenly the thought that she was supposed to start menustrating a week ago popped into her head. She hadn't gotten her period last month either, as far as she knew. Max hazily remembered a nurse mention to her that she'd skipped her period. 

The vomit that had been tickling her throat came up. _No. I can't be. No, no, no... And if I was, who would be the father, anyway? I can't get pregnant when I'm in heat, so it's not Rafer... Oh... My... God... What if somebody took advantage of me while I... Okay, Max, that's gross... Gee, what did you do before getting shot again?_ She concentrated and tried to remember everything through her slowly-developing seizure and her illness.

She and Logan kissing, Zack interrupting--_What a fuckhead_. With Lydecker, at the warehouse, at Manticore. _Gee, no sex so far. Good job keeping your pants on, Max_. Set the bombs, cuffed Tinga, ran, fought Little Max, back to the van, Zack was captured... At the Crash, getting beer, back at Logan's, really good sex, woke up, remembered Zack was captured. Try and get Zack, oh, there's Little Max again, Logan followed her there it seemed, got shot, passed out in Logan's arms... **Max, how are you doing?** Ima interrupted. 

**Just peachy... Look, I don't think that me getting sick has anything to do with being revved up,** Max thought anxiously. **Really, I had some raw meat a few days ago.**

**Since when are you Inuit?** she asked, as a joke. **And you passed out, Max, remember?**

**Look, just don't worry about it, all right?** Max told her in a severe tone. 

----- 

Logan caught the look on Ima's face and left the room. She turned to Asha, who also looked confused. 

"Does he know something we don't?" Asha asked. Ima shrugged. 

----------------------- 

CHAPTER FIVE PREVIEW 

No preview for this one. :) 

----------------------- 

AUTHOR NOTE 

Well well well, this is quite the interesting turn of events, huh? I still don't know if I'm actually going to leave Max pregnant--the original plan that Max was going to die at Ben's cabin, actually--but you'll find out in a day or two. Also, for people who are turned off by the idea of M/Z... I don't care. Max and Zack won't be getting together at all in this one though. Maybe for a little bit, but not for long. I just don't like the pairing that much. 


	5. Only Takes Quarters

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 5: Only Takes Quarters  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max must find new digs, but her efforts to get some money are thwarted by an Eyes Only mission she wasn't told about, and she must tackle the problem of telling Logan her secret...  
**Rating:** PG 13

Max took the Trytophan out of her pocket and swallowed a couple. She realized she hadn't rinsed her mouth after puking and swallowed some bile, to her disgust. She got up and rinsed. Hearing the sound, Ben knocked again. Max opened te door and stepped out, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. 

"We gotta find you some Seattle digs, Ben," she said shakily. 

"I don't live here, it's just a guest hut we use." Max shoved past him and sat down on the couch. He followed suit. 

. "I think I'm pregnant," she told him abruptly. 

'Well, it's not from when we slept together, because it's too long ago and everything..." 

"We didn't sleep together. You fell asleep, bought me motor oil, followed me around, and then broke up with me," Max said, fingering a small throw-pillow on her lap. They studied each other for a moment. Max, still in her leather-vest catsuit, Ben wearing his usual jeans and t-shirt. They both opened their mouths to speak, didn't, and turned away. 

"So, um..." They said at the same time. They both giggled slightly. "How much do you know about me?" Max asked after a moment. 

"That you're a transgenic," he said awkwardly. She didn't respond and he continued. "Do you... Know who might've knocked you up? If you're actually pregnant, I mean." 

"I have a pretty good idea," she whispered. Max felt numb. The seizure had worn off, suprisingly, and her nausea was cooling down. She searched inside herself, trying to feel any cramps at all, and there were none. _I might be pregnant. Me! Not even twenty-one and knocked up. I need to take a class on how to keep my pants on._ "Don't you tell a soul that I told you that I think that... Well, you know." 

"I wouldn't think of it, Max," he patted her on the knee and she smiled weakly. 

----- 

Ima laid down to sleep in Logan's guest room. He had gone over to Asha's, thankfully. She flicked on the TV that sat on the corner. News, news, news. The Simpsons, and news. Ima had seen that particular episode before though, and switched off the TV. Max's thoughts drifted into her mind. It wasn't words, just a general feeling of being unsure, worried, sick. She was definitely confronting something she knew nothing about, and unknowingly wanted to tell someone. 

**Max, now I _know_ you're not doing okay,** Ima put in, a bit afraid that Max would get pissed off at her. Max appeared to be a bit startled but she responded. 

**I don't feel like talking about it until I know there's something to talk about,** she thought coldly. 

**Okay. You guys gonna head back tomorrow morning?** Ima tried to be sympathetic. 

**Yeah, I should be feeling okay by then. I'm going to get some sleep.**

----- 

Max woke up on the couch with a duvet over her, in Logan's apartment, on his couch, not on Ben's. She felt a little gross from too much sleep and she crawled out from under the duvet. Ben and Zack were talking about something in the kitchen, and someone was in the shower. She stumbled into the kitchen. 

"Hey, there you are," Ben said, happy to see her. "You've been asleep for almost twenty hours, eh." 

"Christ almighty," Max said, opening the fridge and grabbing the milk carton. The pickles looked good as well, but she didn't want to give anything away. 

"Hey, don't you go without sleep for weeks on end, Max?" Zack asked that as if he was talking to a child who had just doodled all over a wall and wanted to guilt them into admitting it. 

"Usually... Wierd, huh?" She took a few big gulps of milk, burped, then turned to Ben. "Don't you have a home?" He chuckled and ignored her comment. "So... Is Logan around?" She drank innocently from the carton. 

"He went over to Asha's," Ima called from the shower. Max nodded to herself, sort of saying, "well, that's just great". She took more gulps of milk, then put the carton back and left. 

----- 

Max held up the test and waited. A small blue line showed up. She held the box up to the test and looked back and forth, trying to make the test become wrong. _It's wrong, it's so wrong, it just is._ She tore open the other test she'd bought and was just about to make use of it when someone began knocking on her apartment door. Walter was yelling something about "get your ass out here". She finished in the bathroom and washed her hands, put both tests on the sink, and went hurriedly to the door. Walter loomed over her, shoved an eviction notice in her face, and slammed the door. According to the paper, she had forty-eight hours to vacate or face arrest. She calmly folded up the paper, put it in her back pocket, sank down against the wall, and burst into tears. 

About an hour later, when she had calmed down, she put some foundation on to cover up any remaining tear stains, grabbed her wallet, and headed outside. She stuck the keys in her bike and revved it as much as she could, then tore down the streets one last time, towards the only bike dealer that she knew of in Seattle. She took the scenic route, blazing everywhere from Chinatown to the suburbs. When the gas in her bike had trickled down to the amount she needed to get to the bike dealer, she set off towards the store. 

Max dismounted reluctantly and stared at her motorcycle, with a lost, forlorn look in her eyes. She had assembled it by hand, with parts she had bought with her money she'd earned stealing, or with parts that she'd simply stolen. Having the bike had gotten her through a lot, and into a lot of trouble. She took the sunglasses from her head and smashed them underfoot. Wheeling the bike to the front of Bob's Used Cars, she set down the kickstand with her left foot and walked into the shop. 

----- 

"If this place got any more Ikea furniture in it, it would burst, hon," Logan called, letting himself into Asha'a apartment. Her place did indeed resemble an Ikea showroom, white-washed walls and and beige burbur covered the entire apartment. Simple, retro-style furniture was well-placed throughout. The only thing that stood out was Asha's personal stock closet, full of guns and other things she needed when doing stuff for the S1W. However, it was hidden away, like a mermaid's treasure room. Nothing in the entire place looked like ti could possibly belong to her, and she liked it that way. 

"Is that some sort of new greeting that you only use when you come over?" Asha smiled, giving him a quick kiss. "So what's up?" 

"Just another corrupt used car dealer," he told her. "Giving people fake money for their cars." 

"Well, gosh, we'll have to go give him proper what-for," Asha said sarcastically. "Every time you come over here it's about Eyes Only stuff. Yeah, I know, protect the down-trodden, blah blah, woof woof--" Logan looked away. "Well, it's true. It's a bit hard to be in a relationship with someone who sees you as a colleague first and a girlfriend second." 

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "This is the last time, I promise." 

"I doubt it," she said. "Max doesn't want to talk to you any more, remember?" 

"I'm too broke to run Eyes Only, Asha," he told her tiredly. 

"So you _are_ Eyes Only then?" She asked. "Let's go..." 

----- 

Logan noticed a familiar motorcycle in the lot of Bob's Used Cars, but didn't say anything. He and Asha hopped out of the Aztek and walked inside. A large man that he assumed to be Bob was chatting with a slim brunnette, in his expensive-looking glass office. They both got up, shook hands, and the woman turned to leave with a large, bulky envelope in hand. Max looked a little surprised to see Logan and Asha, and they returned the expression. 

"Max, you're--" He started. 

"Okay, alive, and without wheels or an apartment," she told them, very matter-of-factly. "By the way, Logan, me and you have to have a little chit-chat about..." She looked at Asha. "Something that has nothing to do with your girlfriend." She turned to leave but Logan grabbed her by the arm. 

"That Bob guy has been giving out fake bills and--" 

"We're here to pretend to sell the Aztek and then give Bob proper what-for," Asha said, as if she was naming off a list of ingredients. He gave her a look and then turned back to Max. He was about to speak again when Bob came out of his office. Max karate-chopped him in the face and he fell to the floor, knocked out. She tore up her receipt and let it fall on him, then dropped the cash bundle as well. Taking the keys to her bike from the man's pocket, she began to leave again. 

"I had it covered already," she acted like she had known about Bob longer than the other two. "I'll put in a call to the Better Business Bureau in the morning. We on for lunch then, Logan?" His gaze snapped up from the comatose man. 

"Don't you need somewhere to crash?" He asked. 

"Ima's already taking up space at your crib, isn't she? Me and Zack can sleep at Ben's. But thanks for the offer." She actually left this time. Logan was about to say something but Asha headed out of the shop with a frustrated, tired sigh. 

----- 

"Honey, I'm home," Max yelled at the seemingly empty apartment. Ben had given her his address over the phone. His apartment was very open, with a roof that was two storeys up. There was an extra bedroom from where Max stood. "Ben, you here? I booked a U-Haul, we gotta swing by my apartment and 'vacate'." He sauntered out of the bathroom, wet, wearing a towel. 

"Well, hello," he said casually. He leaned against the wall, ran a hand through his hair, flexed his biceps, then straightened up when Zack walked in. 

"Hey, yourself. Get dressed or something," Zack chuckled. Max looked a bit embarrassed, but she covered by leaning against the wall with a bored expression on her face. She snapped out of her slouch when someone knocked on Ben's door. She opened it and looked at the pimple-faced pizzaboy, took the pizza, and told him to scram. He obeyed. 

"Yo yo yo, free pizza in da house," Max called, inviting herself into the kitchen. Ben came out of his room, now fully dressed, and sat down on the floor beside her. Zack sat down a little awkwardly, not used to sitting on dirty carpet eating stolen pizza. 

"Did you get evicted or something? " Ben asked her, tearing off a chunk of pizza with his teeth. Max nodded and her eyes grew wide, as if she'd just remembered something incredibly important. _Fuck, I left the fucking test on the counter... _ She dropped her pizza back in the box and picked up a sticky telephone that was on Ben's wall. She dialed her own number, and Cindy picked up. 

"Hey, boo... Don't go to the washroom. I got sick everywhere and it's really gross and--No no no, don't clean it up! It's toxic! Look, it's just a big mess in the bathroom, I'll fix it up--Yeah, we're evicted. Me and Zack and Ben--That guy I took home from the bar last October, boo--are gonna eat some pizza and help you pack... Yeah, the U-Haul is available for eight in the morning or something... Just don't go take a piss... You have to promise me!... Okay, cross your heart and hope to die or whatever?... Aiight, we'll be there in half an hour or so." Max hung up and shook herself out a little bit, then sat back down. 

**Did you tell Zack yet?** Came Ben's thoughts. She was a little alarmed to find out that she was still telepathic, but she recovered without Zack noticing. Max picked up her pizza again and bit off a mouthful. 

**No, my roommate doesn't know either--**

**The cute blonde?**

**No, she married this guy, but anyway... We have to hurry up and get over there before she goes in the washroom. I sorta left the pregnancy test on the counter in the shitter.** Zack reached for another piece of pizza and Max also did, in case she was drawing any attention. 

"So, I'm leaving tomorrow morning," Zack said, breaking the verbal silence. "I've got something set up in Mexico with Jace." Max sensed Ben's confusion and explained who Jace was, telepathically. They went back to eating. 

----- 

Logan and Asha went home seperately from the dealership. He offered her a ride a few times when she said that she was going home, but she walked anyway and didn't look back. He drove home to find Ima waiting for him, hands on her hips. 

"What is it tonight?" He asked causually, taking off his coat. She rolled her eyes. 

"Max is pregnant." 

----------------------- 

CHAPTER SIX PREVIEW: THIS KIND OF MACHINE 

Oh. My. God. Is it it mine? Or is that guy she slept with while she was in heat the father? Ima's being silent, and she hasn't talked to me all day except to ask about where the extra rolls of toilet paper was, and if Max or Asha kept any clothes at the apartment that she could borrow. But I guess she doesn't need to ask some things, seeing as she can violate my mind any time she wants. She lets out a huff from the passenger seat of the Aztek and turns to look out the window at the Sector Cop. I take my pass out of my overhead visor, flash it at the cop, and pull away. She runs her tongue over her teeth and looks like she's going to say something, but doesn't. She instead points to the next apartment building and we pull in. 

----------------------- 

AUTHOR NOTE 

So yes, it's Logan's. Big suprise, huh? Review this one, pretty please. :) 


	6. This Kind of Machine

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 6: This Kind of Machine  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Asha and Logan may be heading for Splitsville after Logan finds out that Max is pregnant and he continues on with Eyes Only despite Asha's protest. Meanwhile, Max's pregnancy present some complications.  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Logan's POV**

Oh. My. God. Is it it mine? Or is that guy she slept with while she was in heat the father? Ima's being silent, and she hasn't talked to me all day except to ask about where the extra rolls of toilet paper was, and if Max or Asha kept any clothes at the apartment that she could borrow. But I guess she doesn't need to ask some things, seeing as she can violate my mind any time she wants. She lets out a huff from the passenger seat of the Aztek and turns to look out the window at the Sector Cop. I take my pass out of my overhead visor, flash it at the cop, and pull away. She runs her tongue over her teeth and looks like she's going to say something, but doesn't. She instead points to the next apartment building and we pull in. I try to make sense of what happened earlier. 

_ "Look, Asha, it'll just be this one last time, I promise--" _

"No, Logan, you promised that yesterday would be the last time. Get Max to run around for you. I don't care if the world is ending and you've figured out a way to stop it, if it involves Eyes Only, count me out." 

"Asha, I promise--" 

"Goodbye, Logan..." 

I sigh sadly. I'll have to talk to Asha later. There's a U-Haul parked at Ben's for some reason. Max's bike isn't there however, and I twirl the steering wheel to direct the car away from the building. I don't want to talk to her, anyway, and she probably isn't even there. What am I going to say? I know I'll probably end up dating her now, if the child is mine, but I haven't got a clue what to tell her. I haven't got a clue about anything. Ima speaks up out of no where. 

"If it helps, she doesn't know that you know," she offers. She looks bored out of her mind, like she's itching to get out of town and back to her duties of helping her fellow telepaths and making sure that they don't do stupid things. "Look, I'm sorry. She should've been the one to tell you, but I was getting the idea that she was going to just head out of town without saying a thing to anyone." She fingers the edge of a leather jacket she'd borrowed from Max's small wardrobe in the guest closet. She seems to be in some deep state of concentration, possibly trying to find Max. 

A brown-haired woman comes out of one of the first-floor apartments. I poke Ima in the arm hurriedly and clib out of the car. Max notices the Aztek and turns her head, smiling from just beyond a small set of stairs--maybe five or six or so. I walk over, more than a little irked by her overly positive expression. She closes the distance, running down the stairs, putting her arms around me and kissing me hard on the mouth. It scares the shit out of me for a second, but I kiss back eagerly, entangling my hands in her raven curls. She pulls away after a moment, backing off almost two feet. 

"Now that I've got your attention," she was a little breathless, but so was I. "Logan, I'm--I'm pregnant. 

**Max's POV**

I tense, tangling my fingers in a thumb-twiddling kind of way. He doesn't say anything, just stands there, looking a bit embarassed. I make a face that practically screams, "Say something, damnit", but he doesn't catch it. He has a lot of nerve not talking, after I worked up the gall to kiss him and tell him I was pregnant. I'm growing impatient and try the whole mind-reading thing. It's pathetically easy. Thank God Ben only took away my regular X5 abilities and not my telepathically-enhanced ones, I don't think I could live without them, now. He's thinking about Asha, I know that. It doesn't seem like they're together anymore... Something about Eyes Only. A wave of nausea hits me and knocks me off my little telepathy pillar. 

"Ima told me," he tries to manage something besides confusion and fails miserably. I consider that. I didn't tell Ima, and Ben had sworn that he wouldn't. I decide not to say anything about having my mind read, so that I don't feel like a hypocrite. It would be prety silly to bitch about someone violating my mind when I had just violated Logan's. I lick my lips in the dry, Seattle summer air. 

"I probably should've told you earlier but--well--I haven't even been to a doctor yet," I tell him, shoving my hands into the back pockets of my jeans and staring at the ground, at the sky, and at Logan, in some sort of twisted cycle. 

"Don't worry about it," he says after a while. We both stare at our shoes, meanwhile trying to stare at each other without being caught. We carry on like that for almost a minute, then I give in. I figure one of us had better do it before we stand there for hours. I'm about to say something when Ben pops his head out the door, and asks if we want something for lunch. We shake our heads and he slips back inside. 

"About... Um... Just now..." Oh, here we go again. About the dress, about the car, about whatever. For some reason those sentences always invoke an unintelligent silence or both of us trying to talk at the same time, and then I pull my "Gotta Blaze!" thing. But there's no place to blaze now, is there? I peek at my bike with my enhanced vision, behind a fence in the children's playground. I gotta get rid of it, get a car, get a place, get something. I'll have another baby soon in a couple months, after all. Logan smiles at me. 

"Yeah? What about just now? Are we going to have some silly excuse-fight over it?" He grins. I smile back. Ima asks me if we could cut the melodrama and get something to eat and I chuckle out loud. Everything is nice, just right now. Asha seems to be out of the picture, Logan's still interested in me after all of this... And I'm his rebound girl again. Asha's gone, hey, there's Max! She's good looking. Smart. Strong. And Asha will be back, I guess. The thought of being Logan's rebound girlfriend again hits me like a ton of bricks. No, I'm not going to think I'm in love with him and walk in on him and some other chick kissing. Not again. I take off with every bit of power I've got, across the parking lot and over the fence before even Ima can blink. I land on my bike in what is _definitely_ the wrong position and fall off with a painful sigh, in the fetal position. Fuck, that hurt. I get back up, wincing because I just landed on my groin, and straddle my bike properly. 

I flick my wrist, revving the big, black, hand-assembled, beautiful motorcycle I'm sitting on. I shift my ankle and tear through the park at an amazing speed. Through the park, the suburb Ben lives in, past a recreation center... It's just a blur. I relax, close my mind to Ima and Ben, and let the bike do the driving. There's a blood test clinic up ahead, just a block or two--Either that or there's been some kind of bloody massacre, from what I can smell. My bike tears pavement as I rip towards it. 

I finally arrive and dismount my motorcycle in a more graceful matter than I had mounted it. I realize that my enhancements are going to show up on the blood or urine test, and I duck behind a dumpster and pull the scanner-like object that I'd stolen from Ben out of my backpack. It has a little sticker on the bottom of it, and it reads, "For removal of X5 abilities and telepathic powers administered with a X569894F45-model scanner." Hoping that Ima had used that one, I push my curls form the back of my neck and run the scanner over my barcode. It tingles for a moment, then stops. I try to contact Ima and can't. I try to zoom in on a Volkswagen a hundred metres away and can't. Satisfied, I replace the scanner and strut into the clinic, walk up the receptionist desk. It's one of those big, round workstation things, where two or three people can do bitch work at once. It's also sort of double-decker, with a space for both the patrons to 

"Hello, may I help you?" A pretty woman, maybe a few years my senior, looks up from her seat behind the desk. She's got the headset on, of course. I nod. 

"I think I'm pregnant, I was just wondering if I could get a blood test or a urine test to confirm it," I say nervously. I don't want to do this. I don't want to know. 

"Okay... Do you have insurance or ID or anything?" She asks politely, flashing perfect teeth. I realize my error and tell her that I'll just have to run out and get my I.D. from my car. I leave the office and look around for someone who looks like me, who could possibly be wealthy. I walk down the busy, main street of the suburb, but everyone seems to have straight, blonde hair or looks too poor to have good insurance--Or any insurance at all. One of the blonde-haired women catch my eye as she walks past. 

"Syl?" I ask in disbelief. She turns and her face lights up. She looks a little suprised though, and I should've expected that. I'm dead according to her and Krit and quite possibly Lydecker, but the latter wouldn't be a bad thing. Syl covers quickly and hugs me. 

"Ohh, I thought you were dead!" She says, pulling away a little bit. I pull away as well, because my lower stomach is cramping up. I smile anyway, because it's Syl. "What have you been doing lately?" We start walking down the street again. I should probably get back to that clinic before they think I'm pulling a nicky-nicky-nine-doors on them, but I don't say anything. Syl didn't know that I was alive, and she doesn't need to know that I'm probably pregnant. We talk for a while about how I got out of Manticore and what happened after she'd left on the morning after Zack was captured. I make up how I got out and leave out any parts about telepaths, of course. We're silent for a moment, then both announce that we have to use the shitter. We giggle like silly teenaged girls as we walk into a small, run-down conveinence store and ignore the shopkeeper's yells of, "You have to a-buy sumtin to use-a the privy!", my troubles forgotten for a little while... 

Syl cut in front of me and ran into the bathroom, shut the door. I walked back into the main area of the conveinence store and a small array of pregnancy tests stared at me. There was a recall notice pinned to the shelf they sat on. I tore it from the place it had been taped to and read it. The two brands I'd used have been recalled--That wasn't good. I crumple the sheet and chuck it in the corner, then turn and flip through a magazine when I feel Syl's eyes on me. 

"Got a bad case of the preggers, Max?" She asks me. I laugh and excuse myself into the bathroom, feeding her some lame excuse on my way. It smells horrible in the shitter. There's a dead rat in the corner and someone has pissed all over the floor. I hold my breath and do my business. I finish up, wash my hands and all that, and I'm just about to walk out when my beeper unclips itself from my jacket. I bend over to pick it up and notice something in the mirror. There's blood on the ass of my pants. Fuck. That is so _not_ good. Either the pregnancy tests lied and I'm getting my period, or... Actually, never mind "or". I don't even want to think about what could be happening. My lower stomach twists and cramps again and I almost buckle and fall to the ground. I shove some t.p. down my pants to try and soak up some of the blood and poke my head out the door. 

"Syl?" I call. She looks over from a magazine with a puzzled expression and I stick my arm out the door, making a come-here motion with my fingers. She replaces the magazine and walks over, a tad suspicious. 

"What's up, Max?" She asks uncomfortably. I ask her to switch coats with me and she says okay, a little wierded out. We strut out of the conveinence store, and turn separate ways to leave.

"Um, you know where Logan lives, right? I'll... Um... Give this back to you later," I tell her uncomfortably. And she nods, still uneasy. I turn to leave and she tosses me my pager. I thank her and continue on. It feels really awkward to walk around a in a too-small leather duster, a pair of jeans that are bloody in the ass, and t.p. shoved down your pants. I cower on my way back to the clinic and realize that I still don't have I.D. There's a brunette with wavy hair waiting for a bus across the road and I skip over, faking a bum arm. Thankfully, there's a streetlight in the alley behind her--How wierd is that--and I ask her to come over and take a look at it, then smack her. She's tiny but it doesn't faze her and she fights back, much unfortunate for revved-up me. 

"Who the fuck are you?" She yells, tossing me into a large pile of cardboard boxes. This chick is too strong. I remain quiet and karate-chop her in the face with my hand. She crumples and I grab her wallet--and a Maxipad--whispering an apology and dashing down the street to the clinic. I run in there, a little breathless. The receptionist looks a little suprised that I actually came back--it's almost been an hour. She gives me some forms and I remember that I don't know what my name is. I sit down with the clipboard in the waiting area and leaf through the mystery woman's wallet. The only thing she's got is a well-faked driver's license and a sizable amount of twenty-dollar bills. Nice wallet, though. The bummer is that her driver's license says she's 28, and that her name is Anya Scott. I squint a little at the picture, and it's definitely Asha. Calmly I put the driver's license back, use the washroom and put that Maxipad to good use, and go to Logan's. This is just wierd. 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER SEVEN PREVIEW**

Speaking of Logan, the phone rings. I figure it's either him or someone wanting me to switch telephone companies. I pick it up--it's a cordless that sits in the middle of the table most of the time--and give a polite hello. It's Logan. He says it would be better if we stopped seeing each other. I guess he sees Eyes Only shit as dates. I agree, trying to sound a bit let-down. We're both silent for a moment, then he says goodbye, I respond with the same word, and we both hang up. I put the phone back in it's charger cradle and tap my foot uselessly. Boredom and singleness are probably going to be a combination that ends up with me at Crash, losing at billiards and drinking. I smile at the thought and the phone rings again. 

"Hello?" It's one of my S1W buddies this time. We talk in code. 

"Jenny's been throwing up all night, Nicole," he tells me. "Could you come by and watch the other kids while I take her to the hospital?" I agree and tell him I'll be there in a bit., then hang up again. Suburban blood clinic has been extorting money from it's patients, it seems. I stop by my equipment room to grab some firepower and head out the door. 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

Well, I was checking for reviews on FFNET just now and I saw another fic with the word "Eric" in the summary and I was like, "ohmigosh! Ben's her brother, not the guy from when she went into heat back in Ocotber!" Anywho, I felt pretty stupid. And for all you M/L shippers out there, I am going to keep Max and Logan apart for as long as possible, or until I can't think of a reason to keep them apart. :) 


	7. Rebound Girl

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 7: Rebound Girl  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max goes to the blood clinic, unknowingly accompanied by the S1W...  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Logan's POV**

Someone's saying "knock, knock" from just outside the door. I get up from the computer and walk over to the door, hoping it's Asha. It's not, but close enough. It's Max, wearing a different coat and looking a little worried. She brushes past me and into the guest bedroom, closing the door to it behind her. 

"Where's my leather jacket?" She calls. I hear her sigh, frustrated, and rummage through the closet. Max emerges in a different pair of pants, holding the other pair, folded up, in her hand. "I gotta do some laundry. Do you mind? I got some nasty grease on these pants." I'm about to ask her why she left earlier and where she went, but she blew me off and raced out the door and down the stairs. I go into the guest bedroom to clean up in case she hadn't. It was a bit of a mess and would only take a minute or two to clean up. A wallet tumbled out of her duster when I picked it up off the bed. It was incredibly fat and a bit heavy. Curiosity gets the better of me and I open it. There's a driver's lincense belonging to Anya Scott. Wasn't that the fake identity that I set Asha up with? 

"They got the mustard ooouuuuutt," comes Max's singing voice from the lobby of my penthouse. I finish folding and hanging everything, then go back into the living room. Max is leaning on the wall, singing the lyrics to some song about drycleaning in a very off-key, oft-tone way--probably to get my attention. She stops, a bit embarrassed, when she sees me, then meets me halfway to her. "We gotta talk." She takes my hand and leads me over to sitting area, inviting me to sit down on the couch beside her. 

"What's up?" I ask, knowing this is going to be about why she left. She's quiet for a moment, picking at her newly-manicured fingernails. She looks at me to say something several times, then looks away. Sound finally comes out of her mouth. 

"I... I was talking to you and I realized I was just going to be your rebound girl, because I kissed you and you kissed back but Asha's only been gone like, what? A few hours? So I left and I ran into this blood clinic, so I thought, 'maybe I should make sure I'm pregnant'. But of course, I've got no I.D., so I go out looking for someone who looks like me, and guess who I bump into? Syl, of all people... So, we walk around, y'know, catching up on things--I left out the part about telepathy though--and then we've both gotta pee, so we run in this low-end Kwik-E-Mart and the two pregnancy test brands I used were recalled, turns out. So I go for a piss and... And there was blood," her voice falters towards the end. She almost looks like she's going to cry. "So I borrowed Syl's duster because, um, there was blood on my pants. Then I left there and she went the other way because she was a bit wierded out by me looking at pregnancy tests and needing her duster... So I finally find this brunette who looks like me, and she fights back, which kind of sucks because I de-revved myself before going into the clinic, and I get back to the clinic with her wallet and a pad, and it turns out the woman is quite rich and the only I.D. she's got belongs to your girlfriend, or Asha, or whatever she is to you now... Or at least it looks like it does," she says, regaining her emotional strength a bit, looking at the wallet in my hand. "But, it's 'that time of the month' and I was only bleeding a little bit and I _can't believe_ I'm telling you all of this." She looked away and shook a little bit. "Holy fuck, what if I miscarry this thing? If there is a thing there?" I put my arm around her to console her and almost say something sympathetic--even though I haven't got a flying fucking clue what to say to her--and she pulls away. 

"Look, I'm going to go back to that clinic, hopefully with an I.D. this time, and you go and figure out this Asha thing... _Then_ come talk to me," she says, getting up. "Syl will probably be around to get her duster, so.." She waves her arms a bit, then lets them fall to her sides and leaves. I get up to follow her and she turns. 

"Max... How about I get you a fake I.D. and you take a nap or something," I offer. She shakes her head and tells me to go to Asha's again, then walks out the door. How does she know me and Asha aren't getting along...? 

**Asha's POV**

So, I'm sitting at my dining room table. What time is it? Two in the afternoon? I slouch a bit, then position a pencil between my two fingers and do the 'rubber pencil' thing with it. I smile slightly at the wiggling piece of wood and lead, then drop it accidently and let out a sigh. I think about leaving Logan next time he gets me to do Eyes Only stuff. I'm pretty sure I love him but every time I plan something with him, Eyes Only rears it red, white and blue head. I don't care if he still runs it and all, just as long as he keeps some of our dates. I wonder if Max ever had that problem. I wonder why I never found out about her til she 'died', and why she never found out about me either. Logan's a sneaky one. 

Speaking of Logan, the phone rings. I figure it's either him or someone wanting me to switch telephone companies. I pick it up--it's a cordless that sits in the middle of the table most of the time--and give a polite hello. It's Logan. He says it would be better if we stopped seeing each other. I guess he sees Eyes Only shit as dates. I agree, trying to sound a bit let-down. We're both silent for a moment, then he says goodbye, I respond with the same word, and we both hang up. I put the phone back in it's charger cradle and tap my foot uselessly. Boredom and singleness are probably going to be a combination that ends up with me at Crash, losing at billiards and drinking. I smile at the thought and the phone rings again. 

"Hello?" It's one of my S1W buddies this time. We talk in code. 

"Jenny's been throwing up all night, Nicole," he tells me. "Could you come by and watch the other kids while I take her to the hospital?" I agree and tell him I'll be there in a bit., then hang up again. Suburban blood clinic has been extorting money from it's patients, it seems. I stop by my equipment room to grab some firepower and head out the door. 

**Max's POV** "What the hell do you mean, I have to give you five large before you'll process that?" I question the young doctor. I bet he's not even an intern, just looking for money. I wish I'd brought some heat with me. I don't like using guns, but this guy's being an asshole. He shrugs and demands the money again. I tell him no and he picks up the blood sample he'd just taken, holds it high above his head, which is about six and a half feet from the linoleum floor and asks for the money again. I sigh, belt him in the gut and take the vial of my blood. I hear Asha and her crew bust in the waiting area and let out a frusrated sigh, shoving the sample in my purse and walking out to the waiting area. I hop on the receptionist desk before Asha does. 

"Alright guys, we're the S1W. Process our blood," I yell in a monotone. She puts her hand on her hip and grunts. The other people in her group relax their weapons a bit. Everyone in the office has their eyes on me. "Sorry, did I do it wrong?" I ask sarcastically. Her and Logan have been messing everything up lately. I cross my arms on my chest, still standing on the desk. 

"It's like this," Asha said. She pulled a gun from her coat, pointed it at the ceiling, and fired. I nod and so do her cohorts. I jump down and take her gun, wave it around a bit. 

"Get these people their blood results right now," I tell them. An Eyes Only broadcast kicks in on the small monitors that _were_ broadcasting wholesome, children's stuff. The entire office looks away from me and Asha, their gaze fixed on Logan's eyes and his red, white and blue motif. 

"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city." I hear snickers from the cubicles and yell a "Shut up!" in their general direction. Asha looks smug. 

"For almost five years, a small blood clinic has been extorting money from expecting mothers--" I wince--"diabetics, and other people needing blood tests for other reasons. They demand anywhere between twenty and five thousand dollars to process blood tests and may become violent if patients do not agree with them. Please avoid the 31st Street Blood Clinic, and when Eyes Only obtains enough information, he will act. This has been a streaming freedom bulletin." Four security gards burst through the door in full gear, guns out. I swing my own firearm around, pointing it at them. My uselessness without my abilities is going to really weigh me down. Asha's pulled another gun out of somewhere, and it's aimed at the same place mine is. We glance at each other and then, ever so slowly, move forward. 

"Alright, guys, this isn't going to get ugly if you all put the guns away," one of them says slowly. I relax and shove the gun in my coat, and Asha follows suit. After a moment, the guards and the other S1W people put their weapons away too. The next part is going to be really bloody hard without my telepathy. The ten of us rush the guards and the people in the office start shrieking, running for cover. Asha's having problems with her guard--He's practically wiping the floor with her--But I got lucky, taking a large security guard. The S1W members are really struggling, probably due to their dependence on guns. Speaking of those, one of them whips one out and shoots the fourth guard point-blank in the head. Everyone stops at the sound, me and Asha remain in our fighting stances. She relaxes and I knock out the last two guards by smacking their heads together, and everyone looks over. 

"Uh, yeah, idiot?" I call over to the shaking S1W, still holding his gun out. "Not needed." I throw a glance at Asha and pass her gun back, informing her that I have places to be and leave, blood vial still in my purse. 

**Logan's POV**

I take off my exoskeleton, put my pants back on, and stand. I'm standing. I'm actually standing. Standing doesn't really excite me any more, but it is an improvement from not being able to feel anything. A little bit of surgery, nanocytes, and using my legs all the time seemed to do the trick. I feel wierd as hell not having the exoskeleton on and walking, but I manage my way into the living room. Max bursts in then, almost knocking me over. 

"Exoskeleton on the fritz, buddy?" She questions, looking me up and down. "You look like a three-year old on a bike." I agree with a chuckle and assure her that the exoskeleton is working fine. She's got a bruise on her shin and her lip is split. She gives me a wierd look and goes into the kitchen, and I follow. 

"Get into any fights lately?" I ask casually. She opens the fridge, grabbing a coke. 

"Yeah, the S1W interrupted my blood test session... You got straws?" Max touches her lip gingerly. I grab her one and she smiles at me slightly. "You and Asha sorted out? Or was she too busy dodging bullets at the local blood clinic?" She slurps on her soda while talking to me. 

"I dunno," I tell her. "Did you get the results?" 

"No. The doctor was halfway through 'extorting' me, then Asha came in, then your broadcast started, then we rushed some security guards, then one of her S1W buddies shot one of the guards, then I left," she said, chewing on the straw a bit. "Fuck, I hope there's nothing wrong with me. You know any lab techs that could read this for me?" Max pulls a vial of blood from her bag and hands it to me. 

"I'm sure you're fine... I'll get Sam to look at it," I say sympathetically. She smiles. 

"You're a sweetheart, Logan. I gotta go get my shit from Ben's," she says suddenly, sticking what's left of her soda back in the fridge. My legs give way as the door closes. Shit. 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER EIGHT PREVIEW: AND I'M GETTIN' OLD**

I don't even bother calling, I just head over. He doesn't look quite so shaky any more. I decide not to take my chances with the roof, but my arthritic knuckles ache when I try to pick the lock. Helpless, I surrender to knocking. Logan tells me that my hair is less grey. I thank him for noticing. 

"I got a hold of Lydecker. He said he could get in touch with a lab tech from Manticore and get you the cure." He babbles on and on for a minute or two about how I'm going to be okay and everything. I tune him out. He seems a bit pissed off. 

"Max?" My name snaps me out my daze. 

"Yeah?" I ask him, a little shaken. "So where's this lab tech? What does he want as payment?" 

"Your body..." 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

I decided I didn't want my fic going the route of every other "Max has Logan's kid" fic, so that's why all of this is happening. I haven't seen any fic showing Asha as even remotely good yet either, so that explains her part... Ben, Ima, and Zack will be thrown back into the mix next time, this is just setting up the last half of the story. 

Err, yeah... I didn't say Asha has long hair did I? :) I really need to slow down, apparently. I've decided to leave Eric as Ben (GRRR I am a moron!) and leave Tinga getting handcuffed in Chapter 2, just because I am lazy and I'm rushing. Didn't I just say this on the review page? Uhh, anyway... Ah yes, I'm in Canada by the way, but we use waaayy too much British slang here, in case you were wondering. 


	8. And I'm Gettin' Old

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 7: And I'm Gettin' Old  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max's blood test results come back with some unexpected outcomes.  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Max's POV**

Yawn. Like, really. I'm tired. Not having Shark DNA really zaps you. I stumble out of bed--I actually slept last night, wow--and into the bathroom. My face looks a little wrinkled. Odd. I lean over to the mirror and yes, I do have a couple wrinkles. My hair is also a little greyed. I back away from the mirror and put my hand on my slightly wrinked forehead. I remember Brin, how she started aging like this. Progeria. Her heart thumps in my chest and I have some sudden trouble breathing. Placing my hands on the sink, I take a few deep breaths. I'll just wear a hat. My blood test should've been analyzed by now, right? Maybe the wonderful 'ole Dr. Carr can help. Or I'll have to track down a Manticore tech. Or turn myself in. I start shaking again and the phone rings. I don't know how to answer it, because I don't know Ben's last name and it's _his_ place. Gee, does _everything_ I did while I was in heat have to make me feel cheap? Taking home a guy whose last name I don't even know. Well, no more heat. I decide on a greeting and snatch the phone from inside Ben's medicine cabinet. This kid puts shit in the wierdest places. 

"How did you get this number?" I demand from the caller. Logan chuckles on the other end and tells me that I gave it to him. Oh, right, I say. His tone goes very serious. 

"Doc Carr got your blood test back. I'd better not tell you the results over the phone." He's trying to sound serious but comes across worried. 

"Am I pregnant?" I ask him. He doesn't say anything about that, just tells me to come over. I sigh and say okay, then hang up. I gotta get that U-Haul back sometime soon. 

About half an hour later, Logan invites me to sit down on the couch beside him. It has to be bad news. He would've told me over the phone if Sam had picked up something besides whether or not I was pregnant. He looks scared shitless, and I'm feeling the same way. My wrists, my back, my knees, my ankles, and my knuckles all ache. 

"You're not pregnant," he tells me, and I breathe out a sigh of relief. That still leaves why I got so sick up in the air. I don't ask him about it though, and he continues. "But Sam Carr picked up something else... Why are you wearing a baseball cap?" I can tell that he's trying to avoid telling me what the doctor found. I pass it off as a bad hair day. 

"What else did he pick up?" I ask, verbally nudging him into telling me. He still avoids it and I go over to where he's sitting and plunk myself down right beside him, asking him again. He looks away. 

"You've... You've got early-stage Progeria, Max..." His voice falters noticeably. It still shocks me and I look away also. I've actually got it. I'm going to die an unfairly early death or become a Manticore minion. Fuck. We're both silent for a few minutes. 

"Manticore helped Brin," I say, after a while. "I've got her heart. That could be it. Me and Zack were gonna spring her from Manticore but she got Progeria... I-I won't go back there." I look over at him. "Does Carr have any Manticore-related buddies?" 

"No," he says quietly. "And Lydecker shot the last Manticore tech we were friends with. I'm sorry, Max." 

"Don't be... It's not your fault," I tell him, trying to stay strong. "Look, I'll go back and have Ima and Ben and Zack get me out of there..." 

"Max, it's in your heart, circulating in your blood. Unless they get you a new heart, you'll get back here and--" 

"Why didn't it show up earlier then?" I interrupt. "I mean, I lose any trace of my X5 abilities and suddenly I'm aging like it's in style. Maybe if I get them back... I gotta go talk to Ima." I get up to leave and turn around for a moment. "Don't worry, Logan, I'm not excited about having to go back. I won't do it unless my life depends on it." 

**Asha's POV**

It's awkward having Ima around here. She doesn't sleep. And she's telepathic, or as I like to call it, incessantly lazy. She sits at the table across from me as our breakfast makes itself in the kitchen. I braid my straight, blonde hair instead of talking to her. She looks incredibly bored, but maybe I'm just incredibly boring. Max barges in then. 

"Hola. Shop at Ikea much?" She's wringing her hands, and looks like she aged a few years overnight. The liver spot on her cheek practically looks at me as she walks over and sits down, pretty much ignoring my presence. 

"I've got Progeria," she spits it out like someone unexcited about the results of a football. I decide not to tune them out. Ima still looks bored and she tucks her bouncy red curls behind her ear. 

"Well, what do you want? Would you like to me to call St. Peter and have him save you a room?" Ima asks innocently. I'm about to ask what Progeria is, but I'm pretty sure it gives you liver spots. 

"No, I need you to revv me up again," Max tells her as if it was obvious. "The girl I got my new heart from had Progeria and it didn't start bugging me until I... Uh... De-revved..? You know what I mean." Ima chuckles, shaking her head and walking into the kitchen to get our completed breakfast. 

"It's your clock, hon," she calls from the kitchen . "But if you think it would help, I'll just need your barcode number. And I hope you plan on giving Ben's de-revver back." She comes back to the table, balancing some pancakes and syrup. 

"If it doesn't work, I'll have to go back to Manticore," Max says quietly. She's scared, I can tell. From what I've heard, Manticore isn't a great place. She looks over to Ima. "You've got my back on that, right? As soon as I'm cured, you guys are gonna spring me?" 

"We got your back," Ima assures her. "So, what's your barcode number?" 

"Three-three-two-nine-six-oh-oh-seven-three-four-five-two," Max tells her. She nods and runs off to get her scanner, pushing the pancakes over to me. I dig in. They're good. I try to make some kind of conversation with Max. 

"How are you and Logan doing?" I ask. She looks a little suprised that I'm talking to her. 

"We're... I dunno. How 'bout you?" She just returns the question. 

"Same," I tell her, shoving some more pancakes into my mouth. "Want some?" She shakes her head. "Look, I'm sorry about acting like a bitch or whatever. I didn't mean to get between you and Logan... I didn't even know you existed. Thanks for helpin' out at the clinic and stuff." 

"Yeah, ditto," she says, drumming her nails on the table. She's not too talkative today. 

"So what's this Progeria thing?" I ask, slicing up my last two pancakes. She lets out a bit of a huff. 

"Premature aging, usually fatal. And usually only in children. It's a little common in Manticore kids." Ima comes back in then, scanner in hand. 

"Three-three-two-nine... Six-oh-oh-seven-three-four-five-two," she says as she punches some numbers into the scanner. It beeps. "Okay, Max, just look down for a second." Max obliges and Ima runs the scanner over the back of her neck, then dissappears back into the guest room. 

"Feelin' better already," she says, flexing a bit. 

**Max' POV**

I check myself out in the bathroom. My wrinkles have definitely tightened up a bit, the liver spot is fading fast. I'll probably have to dye my hair, though. It hasn't gotten any greyer since I got here however, thank goodness. At least I'm not pregnant. I hear Asha rooting around in her private closet and sneak up behind her. 

"Nice collection," I observe. She stands up, startled. 

"Thanks. I've got S1W business," Asha says informally, going back to picking a gun. Besides guns, though, she's got everything. Coms, tasers, the works. She finally picks a small, pocket-sized taser and a nice-looking handgun, similar to the one she used at the clinic. She loads it and shove it in her coat. "Toodles." She leaves then. I notice that my wrists and knuckles have stopped aching. My beeper goes off. It's Logan... 

I don't even bother calling, I just head over. He doesn't look quite so shaky any more. I decide not to take my chances with the roof, but my arthritic knuckles ache when I try to pick the lock. Helpless, I surrender to knocking. Logan tells me that my hair is less grey. I thank him for noticing. 

"I got a hold of Lydecker. He said he could get in touch with a lab tech from Manticore and get you the cure." He babbles on and on for a minute or two about how I'm going to be okay and everything. I tune him out. He seems a bit pissed off. 

"Max?" My name snaps me out my daze. 

"Yeah?" I ask him, a little shaken. "So where's this lab tech? What does he want as payment?" 

"Your body," Logan says plainly. "When you die, Manticore wants your organs. For their bank, in case an X5 goes down." 

"Fine. What am I going to do with 'em?" I say calmly. He shakes his head and walks off. "What's up with you today, buddy?" 

"Progeria is fatal, Max. Don't you get it?" He asks me impatiently. "You act like it's no big thing that you could be gone tomorrow... Again." His voice falters. 

"Life is fatal," I tell him. "I could walk outside and get hit by a car, or have one of those wacky hoverdrones shoot me through the window. I'm going to die anyway. It might be today or tomorrow or years from now. Get over it." For some reason, I don't feel bad for being so cold. He doesn't say anything, just retreats somewhere into the hallway of his apartment. I sigh and follow, closing the front door before I go. 

"Why are you walking away from me?" I ask him . He turns, a bit angry that I came after him. 

"People _missed_ you when you died, Max. And it looks arrogant as hell that you aren't worried at all about this Progeria shit. I shouldn't have thought that you'd understand that it hurts people when their friends die. Things trained to kill probably don't think about the repurcussions." His last sentence hits me like a blow to the face. It hurts momentarily and then you see the cold look they give you, and that hurts even more. 

"I _am_ worried," I counter, getting in his face. "But life goes on if you're still living, and I'm not going to let the fact that I'm turning into an old woman faster than most twenty-year-olds drag me down. Not a single fucking bit." 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER NINE PREVIEW: TARGET PRACTICE IS FOR MEXICO**

"I think we can," he assures me. "If we can't..." 

"Then I'm pretty much dead," I lie. If it doesn't work, I'll just turn myself in to Manticore. Fuck it. I've escaped many times before, I'm sure I can manage it before I become like Brin. If this guy doesn't turn me in first. I hear pumps clicking in the next room and the door opens once again. 

"Hello, 452..." 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

Progeria is an actual disease, and it usually affects children, causing them to get severe arthritis, their hair to grey and their skin to wrinkle, and their noses to get all pinched up. Currently, children who get it rarely live past twenty... But in DA's universe, it's curable. Max's Progeria is accelerating mostly because I need it to be a real hazard to her health soon. 

And I'm not saying if Max and Logan are going to get together or not... Yet... Maybe something will happen in chapter 9... :) 


	9. Target Practice is for Mexico

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 9: Target Practice is for Mexico  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max's meeting with the mystery Manticore folks goes horribly wrong; she and Asha end up at Logan's.  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Max's POV**

A disgruntled man comes into the office. I sit on the examination table, the kind you see little kids struggle to hop up on and then dangle their feet from. It's brown leather and steel, with that paper stuff covering it. "So you can cure this?" 

"I think we can," he assures me. "If we can't..." 

"Then I'm pretty much dead," I lie. If it doesn't work, I'll just turn myself in to Manticore. Fuck it. I've escaped many times before, I'm sure I can manage it before I become like Brin. If this guy doesn't turn me in first. I hear pumps clicking in the next room and the door opens once again. 

"Hello, 452..." Renfro drawls. I refrain from leaping at her, and instead stare at the man. "This was too easy. Just because Lydecker was in on this, you thought you wouldn't need backup? Love the hair, by the way." 

"Fuck you," I mutter. She walks over and two burly goons follow her in and then close the door. "I'd sooner die than go back to Manticore." 

"Oh, you won't be going back for long... You'll be our guest of honour," she explains in a tone that makes me want to rip her head from her body. I can actually feel my trust in Logan and Lydecker fade to almost nothing. "As your friend Ima explained, you're free. You're the key in Eyes Only's plan to expose us. We screw you over, I have to burn the place to the ground." She starts pacing and it irks me to the bone. I know she's got something else planned, they always do. I make a personal note to kick Logan's ass, not only for his comment, but also for this. 

"How do I know you won't brainwash me?" I question. She laughs. 

"How do I know Eyes Only won't tell on us? I don't." She signals to the guards and they pin me. Renfro and friends don't know about my telepathy--I decide to tell them, throwing the guards through the wall as soon as they touch me. My beeper goes off. I bust through the small window and hit the ground running. 

**Asha's POV**

I try to think about what just happened. A bunch of goons swarmed our apartment, tasered the shit out of Ima, then ran off with her. I had been in the bathroom at the time, putting on some makeup, and I ducked into the empty cabinet as soon as the doors crashed open. I slowly ease my way out of the under-the-sink area, but I'm really cramped up from sitting here for half an hour. I sneak into the main area of my apartment, make-up half-done, quiet as a mouse. Ima must've put up a fight--the place has been ransacked. I pick up the chairs and put them back around the table and sit down. 

I should probably go somewhere and hide, in case they come back for me. I consider Logan's, then decide not to. I could go to that Ben guy's house, but I don't know where that is. The idea to go to Crash forms in my brain, and I grab my purse, a small handgun, my car keys, and some make-up so I can finish up in the car. 

Speaking of the car... What a beast. Blue, '94 Chevrolet Cavalier. It runs. It does not look nice, but it does get me from A to B and back again. I check the backseat--nervous habit--and climb in. My radio greets me with loud static when I start the car. I tune to a station playing American Pie by Madonna and sing along. I'm such a girl. 

"My, my, miss american pie, droooove the Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry, and good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye, singin' this'll be the day that I die... This'll be the day that I diiieee..." I sing at the top of my lungs, barreling out of the parking lot. "They started singin'... Oh yeeaahh!" I yell in an off-key tone. A black and brown figure sprints in front of me and I slam on the Cavalier's useless breaks. The woman studies me for a moment, then runs over and opens up the door. She sits and pulls her hair out of her face, slamming the door. 

"GO!" Max yells, reaching over with her left foot and lead-footing the gas. I scream; she drives. "Switcheroo, chickie poo!" She's yelling again. I slide under her into the passenger seat and she takes over the driver's, gunning the old Cavalier down the street. It seems like the wrong side of the tracks. Perfect, new, suburban living over there; hobos and crackheads and guns everywhere else. Someone opens fire on the car and I duck between the dashboard and the seat. Max just swerves, and I notice that her hair is back to it's brownish-red, her wrinkles and any other age signs are gone. 

"What the hell is going on?" I yell over the gunfire and squealing tires. She's quiet for a moment. 

"The Big Bad in my life told Logan to tell me to go to this clinic and little miss Big Bad showed up with her goons," Max explains, also in a louder tone. We peel around a corner and Max guns the engine some more. This is not going to end in a pretty way. 

"Manticore?" I yell, covering my ears. She screams a "yeah" and rips pavement going around the corner. Another machine gun fires up behind us, hitting the back and front windshields. Max ducks, driving blindly. I squeeze my eyes shut and hear a horrible explosion... We squeal to a stop and she leans back a bit in her seat. 

"I can make the car explode," she chuckles in an almost terrifying, I've-got-the-power-type of way. I crawl out of my hiding place. "I can make the car explode... I can make the car _explode_..." Max seems a little drunk on her power and I snap my fingers in her face to get her to wake up a bit. Her eyes flutter back to their natural position and she shakes her head mildly. "Sorry 'bout the car, Asha... Fuck, I had a feeling that meeting was going to be rigged." I brush the glass off the passenger seat and sit in it. We set off once again at a somewhat normal pace, and Max peeking around the shattered glass almost makes me laugh, even though my car is ruined... Her beeper blares it's message and she turns it so she can see the number. 

"Logan," she sighs. "It's always Logan. I should just get a cell-phone. Or not even bother with the pager." She steps on the gas a little bit and we speed towards Foggle Towers. I blink but hold my eyes shut a bit too long, wishing Eyes Only would just dissappear. 

**Max's POV**

It's Logan again. Wonder what he wants this time? Gee, Max, someone's robbing the bank! I feel like telling him to call the Powerpuff Girls hotline or something. I can tell from Asha's tired, extended blinking that she's not feeling great about going to Logan's too. I'm still reeling a bit from the other day--I'm a _thing_? Bastard... 

We park underground, to hide the wreck that is Asha's Cavalier. I feel bad--using her and her wheels to get out of Manticore trouble, wrecking both in the proccess. She looks shaken and her car looks broken. My bad. 

Logan looks a little odd and wobbly as we let ourselves into his apartment--I think his exoskeleton is still on the fritz. Asha avoids the idea of going to her place, as well as Ben's. I try to interrogate her about why she's doing that, but to no effect. I decide to just read both their minds as we engage in uneasy banter over some coffee in Logan's kitchen. I take on Logan first, because he's mostly chatting with Asha and won't notice my serious expression. 

_ I wonder if she knows... Maybe I'll give her the exoskeleton so she can fence it, get herself another apartment or something. Fuck, I called her a thing... That's probably why she isn't talking to me much. Asha sounds whiny since we broke up, and Max is--Bitchy? Herself?_ I feel happy that Logan is walking again by himself, even though I don't know how. Aww, and he feels bad for calling me a thing. And I often admit to the bitchiness. Asha is my next victim. 

_My car is just... I couldn't even sell its parts now. Oh well, Max is still alive and that seems to be all that would matter to Logan if he knew what just happened. Maybe I should go home and leave them alone? Of course, whoever got Ima might have come back and stayed there... What if they got that Ben fellow?_ I gasp at the news that Ima's been captured and Asha takes notice. 

"What's up, Max?" She questions me, her and Logan both turning their heads to face me. I shake my head and sip my coffee. 

"I just remembered that I left a chicken in the microwave at Ben's," I dismiss her question. "Nuked it for too long." 

"An entire chicken? Fresh?" Logan asks, more to get in the conversation than anything else. I nod. "Maybe we should go over and get it." Asha's face lights up like a bulb 

"We'd better not," we say at the same time. She gives me an odd look and I shake my head, gulping down the caffeinated goodness that I hold in my right hand. Logan looks a little bit suspicious as well, and also doesn't say anything, just gives me a look. We're all quiet for a moment. 

"I'd better go," Asha says suddenly, reaching behind Logan to dump her coffee down the sink. 

"I wouldn't," I point out, blocking the kitchen's exit. "Y'know, people in those stupid scary movies make stupid choices like that and end up dead." Logan gives me a look and I shrug with my eyes. 

"It's just my apartment, Max... Do you know something I didn't... Tell you?" I feel a bit cornered, Asha with her hands on her hips, staring at me, Logan with his arms crossed and staring as well. Shrugging and sighing, I insist that Asha doesn't go. I'm not particularly her friend--I wrecked her car!--but I'd hate to see her on the recieving end of a goon's order. 

"Fine then, I'll go see Ben," she spits. She really wants out of here. I get out of her way and she leaves, and Logan goes into the living room. I put down my coffee and follow him. 

"So, why'd you page me? Let me guess, its 'About last night'... It seems that the word 'about' is the sponsor of every lame excuse that has come out of our mouths. About the dress, about the car, about last night..." He takes a deep breath and sits down. 

"Are you done?" He asks. I roll my eyes and sit down as far from him as I can get without leaving the pseudo-living-room. 

"I am a human being, for your big fat information," I tell him. "Not a thing. A human being who can kill you from her seat five feet away is what I am." There's a long, awkward silence. 

"Look, I'm sorry--but about, well... Us..." He starts, waiting for me to say something witty. I don't and he continues. "Are we--" 

"Boyfriend and girlfriend?" I complete his sentence. "I think we should see other people." I feel like I'm breaking up with Ben again, but he stole Logan's body or something. He catches on to that and agrees with me, but I know we're both thinking the opposite. I just don't feel like entangling my life any more than I already have, and I decide to skip a repeat of my Space Needle speech about family and having a life with Logan. We both look a little hurt and I stand to leave, but he gets up and grabs me by the arm. 

"Guess what?" he asks. 

"Um... Chicken butt?" He shakes his head and kisses me. It's a nice, tentative kiss at first, but I throw that definition out the window, slipping him the tongue and pressing my body against his as we entangle our hands in each other's hair. He pulls away for a second and looks into my eyes. "What?" my voice is a little worried. 

"I can't hold my breath for four and a half minutes," he's panting a little bit from a lack of oxygen. I smile and we kiss again, a bit more gently this time, and the phone declares its ignorance. It's me that pulls away this time, and I walk over to the phone, pick it up, look at Logan, then drop it back into it's cradle without saying a word to the caller. 

"Well, that takes care of that." 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER TEN PREVIEW: JUST REVENGE**

"Asha's in shit," I put my shirt back on and put the phone back on the end table. We were _so_ about to do it. We just get to the bedroom and _just_ start undressing and oh, hi, I can't kick ass on my own, come save me, have sex with Logan later. I make a mental note to kick Asha around soon. Logan looks a little hurt. 

"She's been waiting hours, right? She can wait some more," he grins slyly now and puts his own shirt and pants back on. I bite my lip and tell him to wait an hour, then leave. 

I feel bad, now, and it's Asha's fault. And where's she gonna go? McDonald's? Not at eleven o'clock. Yes, that's right, she'll take the couch at Logan's. I remember now that my bike is at Ben's, and I break into Logan's Aztek instead, grinning slightly at the fucked-up Cavalier. I guess this is just revenge. The Aztek is easy to hotwire, oddly enough, but the hand controls are awkward as hell and I smash into a pillar at a speed of about five miles an hour, because I only know how to go that fast. Wincing at the dent, I figure out how to drive reverse in this thing and leave the underground parking lot. The Cavalier collapses suddenly behind me and I laugh, drunk on my own power once again... 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

THERE!!! Are you all happy now?! Hehe. Don't worry though, trouble lies ahead for Max and Logan... I won't let them get together for long. And in case you're wondering why the chapter titles never relate to the content... I pick titles before I write the chapters. I originally had Max still pissed at Logan and leaving for Mexico in this chapter! 


	10. Just Revenge

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 10: Just Revenge  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Ima's captor goes after the rest of the gang.  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Asha's POV**

I wait, then pound on the cell-phone's buttons again. Who the hell picked up and then hung up? Drawing my knees to my chest while I sit in the bathroom cupboard once again, I try not to fall asleep. The Indiglo watch on my wrist tells me that it's 10:43 in the evening. I don't have a problem staying awake, but staying up without anything to do is a chore--even when there's guards waiting for me to break and pop out of the nooks and crannies of my squeaky-clean apartment. Oh, it's ringing, it's ringing! Someone picks up at last. 

"How did you get this number?" The voice on the other end sounds like a stripper and I hear a male chuckle in the background and say Max's name. Max straightens up a bit and says hello, asks who's calling. 

"It's Asha," I'm as quiet as possible. "You wanna come throw some big guys around like dolls for me? I've been siting here for three hours..." 

"Poor dear. You're at the apartment, right?" Max sighs, her exaggerated exhale dripping with dissappointment. I nod, then realize she can't hear me nod and say yes. She says goodbye and I hit the End button on the phone, resting my head on the wall of the cupboard. 

**Max's POV**

"Asha's in shit. "Sighing, I put my shirt back on and Logan dresses as well. That stupid twat went home, obviously, even though I told her not to. She lied to me, screwed up what might be my last chance to sleep with Logan, and is basically a twat. I make a mental note to wipe the floor with her sorry ass later. 

"So, what are we going to do?" Logan puts his pants back on and looks wistfully at the exoskeleton. I shrug, and start to get the jist that we're both pissed at Asha. Stupid, stupid, stupid... I go downstairs, break into Logan's Aztek, and speed away. Well, I try to, but I'm not comfortable with the hand controls. Logan is parapalegic after all, and parapalegics can't use gas and break pedals. I ram the Aztek into Asha's Cavalier and wince, then throw it into reverse and back out of the underground lot. 

The drive to Asha's is uncomfortable. The adrenaline rush before a spectacular ass-kicking isn't there, more like a deep, worry feeling in the pit of my stomach. I feel like throwing up; something just isn't right. I reach Asha's place and take a look at the humvees, zooming in à la enhanced vision. They sport the Manticore signal and I backpedal Logan's car and speed back to his apartment. Emotion is weakness. Emotion is weakness. Emotion is weakness. 

**Logan's POV**

Max barges in again, not fifteen minutes after she left. I'm not really in the mood any more--Asha's in trouble because Ima and the rest of us dragged her into all of this. Max looks like she's going to cry as she walks past, into the kitchen, and pulls out a bag of chocolate chip cookies, helping herself. 

"Max..." 

"It's... It's Manticore," her voice falters noticeably as a tear runs down her cheek. I move to put my arms around her but she backs off. Her eyes lock into wide-open-and-glaring position for almost ten seconds then. I know I look worried because she returns my expression. "I told Asha to stay put for as long as possible," she whispers. "I... They'll take me back there. I c-can't." She lets me comfort her this time and convulses in my arms, more out of worry than from crying. 

I never realized what a horrible place Manticore was for them until now. Max, drop-dead gorgeous, super-intelligent, fearless, powerful Max shaking so much from worry about going back there that I'm suprised she hasn't thrown up on me yet. I've heard awful stuff about Manticore... Breaking Max's arms and legs to help people like me, sending adults into fields so Max and her siblings could kill them, sending away kids with seizures... It's more real when the girl you love had to go through that hell. I rub her back and she calms down a bit, resting her head on my shoulder and wiping the tears from her face. 

"You okay?" I look down at her. She looks up, sniffs, and nods. 

"Just promise me you won't put yourself back in the chair if your legs give way." Her eyes lock on mine and I know she's serious. 

"I thought you didn't care," I swallow. She doesn't want me back in the chair? That's nice and all, but it doesn't follow the fact that she said it didn't matter. 

"I don't care about the damned chair, I'd still love you anyway... I'd love you if I couldn't touch you, I'd love you if you couldn't tell me that you love me back... I know this sounds cheesy, but Logan Cale isn't just a body.. But I'd never let you end up in that chair again, not if my life depended on it," she continues, pulling away and going to get her jacket. "But your ex is in Manticore's clutches." She leaves then, and I'm left a little dizzy in the kitchen. She loves me? 

**Max's POV**

I think I love Logan. Do we love each other? That's what I'm not sure about. I take the elevator to get a bit of a refresher course for what I'm about to do, but I don't use the box part--I take the elevator shaft instead, climbing down with my bear hands. It takes a long time, and the elevator begins rushing towards me. I jump on it and realize that I'm going to have to disable all of this, or get someone to rig it so that only the elevator on Asha's floor. I sit down and pop open the cell-phone that Logan doesn't know I have, and place a call to her. I know it's dangerous, but she's going to have to get along by herself for now. It'll be better if the place is locked-down when I get there, 

"Hello?" she says in a normal voice. "Max? This is the only hour that I'm sans guard... They switch eevry hour and about an hour ago they were bitching because some Scott guy didn't show up. Hurry." I realize then that she's alone and tell her to get to Ima's room and get her scanner and run it over the back of her neck, and to do it now. She's got no chance against those guards without super powers. Tee. Super powers. The elevator hits the second floor and I say goodbye to Asha, squeeze myself between the elevator box and the wall of the shaft as it tears upwards, and then I let go as I fall the entire two storeys to the basement, a fall that would kill most people but only leaves me momentarily shaken. Prying open the outer elevator doors, the underground parking lot reveals itself to me and I take off for Logan's car. The lights go on, the horn beeps, the engine revvs, and there's a slight unlocking sound. I whirl. 

"Hey." Logan tosses me the car keys. 

"Hey yourself," I smile, catching his wide throw. He walks over and I meet him halfway, putting a hand on the back of his neck to pull him to me, kissing him passionately. He pulls away not even two seconds after my lips meet his. 

"Just go." His voice is a little hoarse, and he turns away, coughs, then turns back. "I think I'm coming down with something." 

"You're gonna have to come with me." We look into each other's eyes as I speak. "Someone's gotta bug the elevator... I'm sure Asha has the equipment that I..." I stop talking then, taking my hand off his neck and walking over to the car. 

"Let's go." 

----- 

Asha's thoughts reach me as we park ye olde Aztek in an alley and stroll over, but I ignore her. We stop in front of the apartment and fake a fight. 

"_You_ were supposed to pay me back for that two months of rent!" My voice is shrill and we both hold in the laughter. 

"_You_ were _supposed_ to forget about that, remember? I seem to remember paying the lease on your van for four months!" He yells at me and it hurts momentarily, but then I see the fact that he's trying as hard as possible not to break into tears from holding in the giggles. 

"Well, _I'm_ not the one who ran over the fucking dog, am I?!" I yell back, a bit louder than him. The remaining humvee full of baddies is paying attention now, even starting to walk over. There might be about six of them. I notice Ben hop over the fence and rush the guards from behind, so I finish up quickly. "It's _over_!!!" I backhand Logan in the face and storm towards the apartment, holding my angry expression even though I feel bad for slapping him, and even though I feel an intense need to roll around on the ground and giggle. 

A guard stops me and I knock him out, throwing the other two that come over to me into the cement wall that doubles as a fence. Zack storms over the wall at the last second, running to the humvee, fighting a goon along the way, and knocking something in the dash--the CB, I'm guessing. Manticore has one in every humvee, along with six radios that connect to it. Knock out the CB, and the goons can't call for back up. I commend him telepathically on a smooth move as another two humvees roll in, and me and Ben slam them together with our minds. I look around wildly for Logan, and Ben tells me that he went inside. I tell Asha to grab some firepower, hooks, and cables, and meet me in the elevator shaft. She seems bewildered about how to even get into the shaft, but my guess is that she'll figure it out. 

The humvees crash and it doesn't stop the people inside them, who pile out, guns cocked. Ben and Zack walk over to where I'm standing and place themselves on either side. A slender frame steps out of the left humvee, its silhouette shining around the edges from the light of the humvee just behind it. The silhouette turns out to be Ima, and she walks into view, and then over to us. The guns slip out of the fingers of the Manticore goons, turn around, and shoot them point-blank in the heads. I wince. 

"Well, looky looky who I found," she murmers, twirling a copper curl of hair near her face. 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER ELEVEN PREVIEW: EYES ON ME**

We darted over the hills and came to a cliff, clad only in Manticore-issue gowns. The cold air nipped at my skin and mostly-bald head, and I tried to forget about it, attempting to wiggle my toes in the icy snow. Zack stopped us then and we debated whether or not to go around it and the rock patch, over stream over the cliff to the river bank. They all disagreed with me and ran off, back down the hills, in an attempt to sneak up on our victim, who was also deciding his next move. 

I darted over the cliff and landed in the snow on my rickety, frozen legs. A boy, not much older than Zack--who is four years my senior--turned and glanced at me. I was on him in about a second, my hand going to his throat, but he grabbed it in mid-air and locked his eyes on me. I stared at him, struggling. I remember his face, his big blue eyes and his gorgeous, dark brown curls that Manticore had allowed to grow to a decent length just recently--a little longer than a usual boy's cut, to show that his hair was indeed curly. I pushed harder, forcing his arm an inch towards his body... 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

I just about had a panic attack when I couldn't find this chapter... It was written a long time ago (um, last week) and it had to go this way for chapters 11 and 9 to make sense. So yeah, turns out someone had just copied it to another folder! 

Sidenote: It takes some guts to put your work out for others to see and it's a bummer when no one reviews it! Be a good little reader and review, it only takes 30 seconds. 


	11. In Dreams

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 11: In Dreams  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Ima and Logan's pasts are revealed; Max recovers from a severe seizure that left her without a short-term memory.  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Max's POV**

We darted over the hills and came to a cliff, clad only in Manticore-issue gowns. The cold air nipped at my skin and mostly-bald head, and I tried to forget about it, attempting to wiggle my toes in the icy snow. Zack stopped us then and we debated whether or not to go around it and the rock patch, over stream over the cliff to the river bank. They all disagreed with me and ran off, back down the hills, in an attempt to sneak up on our victim, who was also deciding his next move. 

I darted over the cliff and landed in the snow on my rickety, frozen legs. A boy, not much older than Zack--who is four years my senior--turned and glanced at me. I was on him in about a second, my hand going to his throat, but he grabbed it in mid-air and locked his eyes on me. I stared at him, struggling. I remember his face, his big blue eyes and his gorgeous, dark brown curls that Manticore had allowed to grow to a decent length just recently--a little longer than a usual boy's cut, to show that his hair was indeed curly. I pushed harder, forcing his arm an inch towards his body. 

"Don't remember me, 452?" His tone was arrogant, as if he's done so much for me and I was about to pay him back by killing him, but the look on his face was kind, trying to jog my memory. "If _somebody_ hadn't slipped you some drugs, you would've been hauled off long ago because of those seizures you get. Do you remember yet? I'm the one you guys forgot to name, you never use your names around me." His voice fell to a whisper then. "I've saved your sorry ass _so_ many times, 452, let me go before 599 and his minions find us." 

"693?" I whispered. He nodded impatiently and struggled some more against me, eyes searching frantically for a noise I can't hear. 

"It's Scott," he practically barks in my face. "I had to name myself, you stupid punk." With that, he threw me off him and into a nearby tree trunk and blurred out of my eyesight. The last thing I saw was Zack's dissapointed glare. 

My eyes snap open, my head pangs. I wish I hadn't let Scott go back then, three and a half years before we escaped--even though his life depended on it. After that, it was up to my true siblings to save me whenever I seized. Scott hadn't actually been one of barracks-mates, but belonged to another barracks of slightly older X5s--he was infatuated with me however, and not just because my siblings saw me as a disadvantage, with my seizures and all. I had always been the baby of the X5 class, no one beneath us, I don't think, but my siblings still wouldn't look after me when I fell ill. But the kids in my barracks really took me under their wing with Scott gone, and even Zack grudgingly accepted me. I figured out a while later that they gave me my name from maxipads, though, and Max is just a shortened form of Maxi--which is what they called me for a long time, what Zack still often calls me. I try to cringe but my body feels like lead. 

I seem to be in Logan's guest bedroom, under the effect of some kind of drug, or I've got the flu really bad. My limbs feel like incredibly heavy Jell-O as I slip out of bed, the pain ricochets in my brain, and lights dance before my eyes. I'm almost out of the room when Zack slips in, closes the door behind him and pulls me back over to the bed. We sit, and the sullen look on his face grabs my attention. 

"Max... Look, I'm so, so sorry about what happened..." I've never seen Zack this worried, this gentle, this caring. It scares me--something horrible must have gone on while I was asleep. My expression shows confusion, and he returns it. "You... You don't remember what happened in the past six days, do you?" I close my eyes and shake my head slowly at him, and I ache to lie down. 

"Three days after we got back from Asha's... We found out that there was Pulse bombs floating overhead and we found the detonators at Ima's headquarters... We blew the place to kingdom come, I doubt they'll be pulling any shit now, but we've all got prices on our heads. " He's leaving something out--I know him that well, not to mention the fact that what he said doesn't explain how I woke up in here. I ask what else happened and he continues. 

"You and Logan were rigging the detonators in the eastern end and..." His voice falters noticeably and I almost know what happened, but I can't feel any wounds except for a couple bruises, so I rule out being shot. I give him a glance that says, "yeah, and?" 

**Zack's POV**

The events of the last weekWe left from Asha's apartment, and Ima spilled the beans--there were bombs floating around, and the detonators were in the telepaths' HQ. She explained that she conned Manticore into thinking that they were getting the only civilians that knew about their Pulse-y plans, and they had accepted her. Our next stop was, of course, the HQ, which we planned to blow up. Me and Ima took the west end detonators and disarmed them, Logan and Max on the east, Asha and Ben going for the main ones. Ima and I disarmed them quickly and then headed to Max and Logan. 

"Almost done," she said, pressing numerous buttons as Logan stood watch, just thirty feet away on a catwalk. A heavily armed man came out of somewhere as me and the women lurched over the detonators, and Max sprang on him. 

"Scott?!" I remember her yelling. It had taken me a second, but I remembered who he was--Max's protector from our early days at Manticore, the one who seemed obsessed with her safety after he noticed that children with seizures got hauled off to somewhere. She's special, he told me on the only occaision that I talked to him. I don't know if he said that because he had some kind of bond with her, or because of something to do with her DNA. Whatever it was, it made me jealous as hell--she was the baby X5, and we were trying to assimilate her into her own barracks and not into his. I wonder if she knows that the only reason we let him run off was because we were all envious of him. 

Scott was too strong for Max and he threw her into a nearby wall, and his expression turned sick when he realized who me, Max, and more strangely, Ima and Logan were, and he opened fire on the latter. Max and Ima tried to stop him mentally, but they couldn't. He's not like us, or anything we've ever seen--never was, he tossed Max around all those years ago. I knocked him out--almost easily, wierdly enough--as Max rushed to her fallen boyfriend. 

"Logan, no," she sobbed. He clutched at his hip and took the hand away, and her face lit up--No blood, I guess. Scott didn't seem to be much of a shot, because he hit Logan's exoskeleton. With only five minutes left on the countdown until the place blew up, we sprinted out of there and back to the Aztek, with an uncomfortable Max and a passed-out Scott in the backseat. Everything seemed okay after that, except Logan in a wheelchair and Max going through one of her worst seizures I've ever seen, on the third day that we got back. Even with all of us sitting on her, we still had to get drugs from that Dr. Carr guy to stop it. We didn't think she was going to make it, and Logan looked uncomfortable for the entirety of the last two days. The drugs must have induced amnesia. 

I explain a more simplified version of what happened that night to Max and she sits there, taking it all in, nodding every so often to get me to keep going. We leave the room then. 

**Max's POV**

My body feels like lead. Ooog. Ima and Scott are talking on the couch, practically catching up, as if they knew each other back in the day. Asha and Logan are loading guns on his old excercise and I go over there instead, avoiding the others. 

"Hey." Logan doesn't turn around, but tries to load a small gun instead, not to much effect. Asha snaps it out of his hands, pops the ammo in easily, and sets it down on the table. I put a hand on his shoulder and peer over it, trying to see what he's doing. 

"Hey yourself." Asha acknowledges my presence then and leaves in a huff, I don't quite know why. I've barely been around her for twenty seconds and I'm getting a bad vibe off her. Hopping up on the table, I try to see if engaging Logan in some kind of conversation will work. "What crawled up _her_ ass and died?" 

"You did," he says plainly. The look on my face says, "um, right." 

"What'd I do? Seriously, I don't remember anything that happened in the past six days..." 

"I'm kidding," he smiles and I take the chance to change the subject. 

"S1W business is a bitch, huh." Shaking his head, he tells me it's Eyes Only's time to shine. "Geez, if you guys need something stolen or whatever, I'm on it. You don't need all this firepower. Didn't your exoskeleton break?" 

"No, it's fine. And what was the problem the last time we tried to take down Manticore? We got our asses kicked, and we only took out the lab. I figure with guns--" 

"We didn't get our asses kicked, Zack got _his_ ass captured and then we got our asses kicked trying to spring him from that place. And what are we going to do, rig the place and blow it up just like we did with that mountain base? Or maybe, we'll just go and shoot everyone because they're in your way of making the world less corrupt or whatever it is you do." 

"Other stuff happened in between there, y'know." We both blush slightly and he speaks again. 

"I never told you how my parents died, did I." His tone is quiet and I peer at him, waiting for him to continue. "We'd just bought a new minivan--I must've been twelve--and I asked them if I could run into the store for a second, because I wanted a Slushie. I opened the door to the little Mac's Mart and the van exploded... A few years ago I found out that the people who were originally going to buy that van were trying to shut down the same group that set off the Pulse." 

**Scott's POV**

I tune Ima out a bit and just notice they way she acts. If she's around someone she knows as well as she knows me, she's vibrant, using her hands, face, and voice to express whatever's going on the that copper-covered head of hers. I remember when she was just X5-694 to everyone and I was just X5-693. I remember standing there, being yelled at to face my eyes front as Ima was pulled off, seizing uncontrollably. I never saw her after that... That must have been a year or two before Max and her troop came along. 

"You home in there, six-nine-four?" She smiles, using my designation to get my attention. 

"Err, what? Yeah. Where'd you go after they hauled you off, anyway?" 

"A small off-base site. They were doing tests to try and stop the seizures. It was horrible... I escaped about a year after, they broke my limbs and stuff just to see if my implant affected anything." She's lying through her teeth here. When you know someone when they're only a few years old and spend a lot of time with them, you could tell if they were lying about murdering people. 

"Life's a bitch," I put in. 

"And then you die." She completes my sentence in a mockingly morbib tone and I almost laugh. "You knew Max, didn't you?" 

"Yeah. We were good friends... I saved her ass from getting hauled off when her brain went nuts and she didn't kill me. Remember those seek and destroy games? Send off an older X who's been back-talking lately and have the younger ones kill it." 

"What happened after that?" Ima brings her feet up on the couch and rests her iced cappucino on her knees, stirring it with a straw and taking a big gulp. 

"This telepath group that's in bed with Manticore found me... It was a bitch getting around, they wouldn't make me a telepath." She chokes on her iced cap a little bit but covers with a nod and a cough. 

Max walks over then and sits down across from us, silent as the front door to the apartment closes. Crossing her legs, she fingers the knee of her jeans, possibly picking out a little piece of food that got stuck there. She looks a little upset as Asha plonks herself down beside her, probably just trying to make her uncomfortable with her proximity. I'm getting the feeling that they're civil to each other and nothing more. 

"You could, um, stay at my place tonight. Cindy said that she's moving into the new apartment tomorrow... I was, um, talking to her at the Crash last night." Asha looks almost as uneasy as the woman beside her does. 

"Did something happen while we were talking?" I ask, confused at the tension between the two and the fact that Logan isn't here any more, obviously. They both say "no, nothing at all" at the same time and excuse it with a quiet, unfeeling giggle. 

"So," Max says, changing the subject. "How did you know Ima?" 

"You mean X5-694, right?" I hope Max gets the point, but then, of course she will, she's a genetically engineered supergoddess. If she wasn't with Logan, I'd ask her out in a second. Me and Zack always had a thing for her, but we were just kids; it was more of an attention thing. I wonder if she ever noticed me and Zack constantly fighting over her. She looks a little disgusted that I'm talking to her, but also looks suprised--she didn't know Ima was an X kid. 

**Max's POV**

I'm a little wary of Scott. He was captured after I freed him, and then got out of that telepath agency a little easily. He didn't mention if he was in the resistance or not, and I noticed that Ima didn't even mention going to that telepath place. 

**Is he against you guys or something?** I question Ima privately and she responds fairly quickly. 

**Yeah. He's looking to kill anyone resisting what the group is doing. Whatever you do, don't let on that any of us are revved-up in a mental ability way. Just act normal, we'll kill him if he pulls any shit, accept him if he doesn't.** I notice Asha look around suddenly, and I know she got the message as well. 

"I need a walk. Gotta think about some stuff... Um, did Zack go to the Crash?" 

"Probably. I don't think he's likely to go the mall or go out drinking or anything." We all give Asha a look when she says that. "Well, I just don't think..." Sighing, I throw on a coat and head to the Crash on foot. 

I try not to be upset about what had happened with me and Logan just before we'd left. I remember saying sorry about his folks but not really going into it--what the hell can I say to repair that? Watching your parents explode... No wonder Eyes Only came into existence. At least he tried to keep it from happening to others, you gotta admire him for that. 

"I think it's better if we just stay friends." There was silence again. I love him, but I've put him in too much danger lately. Not to mention the fact that we're going nowhere fast, and he's more than a decade older than me, and... Heck, I could go on forever. 

"Eh?" He looked like he knew that the conversation was going to get more uncomfortable from here. He puts down the gun he just loaded and looked at me. We were eye-level because I was sitting on the table. Both of us are quiet for a moment, just looking at each other. 

"We're too different, it's too..." He left then. 

Footsteps behind me snap me back into the present tense. I whirl and look at Scott. 

"Hey. Finally, I get you alone." I punch him in the gut and he's alarmed by my power. 

"Fuck off." 

"Don't think I wasn't lying to the system as well? Ima could be faking it, who knows, she could be leading you back to Manticore." He smacks me right across the face, blowing me back a foot or two. 

"Why the hell are you following me?" 

"You guys should've kept your little mental conversation to yourself... Don't you trust me, Max?" I leap at him and we land on the ground as my hand goes to his neck. 

"I don't trust people who shoot at the guy I love and then sneak up behind me in an alleyway," I practically spit the words. 

"Why else don't you trust me? Think I've been brainwashed?" It hits me then. People who've been brainwashed lose their personality... Scott hasn't changed in the least since the night I let him go. I roll off him and stand up, offering him a hand. 

"You even breathe wrong and I'll snap your fucking neck." 

"Kay," he smiles. "You goin' to the Crash?" 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER TWELVE PREVIEW: MY LIFE IS A STEREO**

"I got some news on Manticore. Turns out we burned them bad, and they've decided to systematically murder all of their subjects, and then burn Manticore to the ground. See." The mouse cursor moves over to the play button and my X7 self turns away from the camera and over to the tree she's standing beside. Decked out in overalls and a t-shirt with hair growing out a bit is not the way I'd imagine genetically enhanced folk to be dressed. There's an orchard or something around her, but she's alone except for the now unhidden camera. 

She reaches up and grabs at a handful of berries dangling from the tree with both hands. The berries pop at her touch and she shrieks in pain. The image zooms at this point and I can see that the skin on her hands is trying to get away from the berry juice, and pulling itself away in curling strips, revealing raw veins and bone. The blood flows from her hands as she screams, and I lean over to turn the sound down from its already low position. The skin continues peeling up her arms and the video ends, going back to the picture of her face... 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

This chapter was a bitch to write... But stay tuned for twelve... It's short but good. :) 


	12. Morning After

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 12: Morning After  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max wakes up in the wrong bed; Manticore's broke and finds a disturbing way to rid themselves of the reason they exist.  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Scott's POV**

I sit up and rub my eyes, my head feeling like glass, my stomach turning--I'm hungover and not wearing pants. The second part of that is more disturbing than the first, and I grab my boxers and jeans off the floor and put them on, getting up slowly, feeling sick as hell. My aspirin bottle waits for me, wanting to help me get rid of my post-drunkeness. I open the door and hear a female grunt from behind me, and I turn. My vision's a little fuzzy because I didn't put my contacts in, but I can see the probably pretty brunnette snap out of a dream state and realize where she is. 

"Oh. my. God." Oh my God indeed--it's Max. She sits up, clutching a sheet at her collarbone to cover herself as she grabs her clothes off the floor and puts them on clumsily with one hand. 

"Max, I--" 

"I think I was drunk too." The sheet is thrown off and she stands up, fully dressed, pushing her hair out her face with one hand and looking at me. "Please don't tell me that what I hope didn't happen happened." 

"I won't tell you then." I open up my dresser and grab a shirt and my contact lense box. She notices the lenses and doesn't say anything. 

"Look, let's just forget this ever, ever happened." Max tries to brush by me and leave but I grab her wrist. Her eyes are icy and disgusted and she glares at me with them, trying to free herself from my hand. "Let go of me," she says in a threatening tone. 

"Y'know, you look about ten times as disgusted as I do," I tell her, not giving up. Okay, it's pretty bad that the whole sleeping together thing wasn't decided upon when we were thinking clearly, but I'm not pissed off that it happened like she is, and Max tries to pry my hand off her wrist with her other hand. I let go and she snatches her hand away. 

"Just stay the hell away from me." 

**Max's POV**

Why do I feel sick? I've always liked Scott--he's handsome, he's my friend, and unlike me he's not homeless. Oh yeah, I was drunk at the time and now I'm hungover, that could be why I'm feeling ill. I try to forget about last night and remember the other six days... On the phone with Sam Carr... Appointment... 10:15 AM... Fuck! I break into a run towards the hospital. 

I walk into the emergency department, because I can't find the outpatient one. An ambulance roars and squeals behind me and I blur out of the way before the stretcher hits me. Stupid, stupid me. I shouldn't be showing off my talents in public like that. Recovering, I give the young girl on the stretcher a hopeful smile when she looks at me and continue on my way. She must be about seven or so... Blood everywhere, only her eyes visible beneath the tube keep her lungs open and the nurse squeezing the blue thing attatched to it--what are those called again?--and bandages. The elevator button bends to my will before I reach it and by the time I do, it's open. 

"Floor six," I tell the older woman standing near the buttons. She doesn't hear me so I use some mental force on that button's sorry ass and lean against the wall of the elevator box. I probably shouldn't, mind--the place is a pit, stains on the walls and junk on the floor. I pull my unwashed hair out of my face with one hand and stride out of the elevator when it hits my floor. 

Sam greets me at the door of his office and informs me that I'm two and a half minutes late. The apologetic smile that I put on my face is fake and he knows it as he sits me down in a small cubicle and preps my arm. 

"What am I here for, anyway? I sorta blacked out during my last seizure and forgot what I did... I just remembered calling you about twenty minutes ago." 

"You called and said that your Progeria had completely cleared up, asked for a blood test--Your veins are _really_ hard to find," he says in frustration, tying the yellow rubber bands a little tighter. It hurts but it's necessary, and I tell him that Manticore did that to avoid having me poisoned. We keep our voices low and he finally finds a vein, shoves a needle in there. 

"Anyway, you wanted to see where your Progeria was at." The vial is replaced. "Just a little longer. I need three of these." He finshes and comments that I've got no wrinkles or grey hairs at all, then takes a long, hard look at the vial of blood. "It's going to be hard to find the Progeria with all of this alchohol in your system." 

I blush. "I think I got drunk last night." 

"I think the correct term is really, really drunk. Look, I'll call Logan's place when I get the results from this. You can go." I thank him and leave. 

----- 

Knock knock knock. Hearing no noises inside the penthouse, I pull two bobby pins from my coat pocket and pick the door. It swings wide and Logan rushes over. 

"'Bout time," he whines. "I must've paged you ten times last night." 

"Oh, really." My voice is a drawl as I try to remember if my pager is even still attatched to my clothes. Oh God, I hope Logan didn't go to the Crash last night... Wait, why do I care? We're just friends. He walks over to his computer room and motions for me to follow when I don't. We assume our regular computer positions--me leaning on the desk with one hand, him sitting. A video window pops up, my clone's face looking at us, the video's play button blinking. 

"I got some news on Manticore. Turns out we burned them bad, and they've decided to systematically murder all of their subjects, and then burn Manticore to the ground. See." The mouse cursor moves over to the play button and my X7 self turns away from the camera and over to the tree she's standing beside. Decked out in overalls and a t-shirt with hair growing out a bit is not the way I'd imagine genetically enhanced folk to be dressed. There's an orchard or something around her, but she's alone except for the now unhidden camera. 

She reaches up and grabs at a handful of berries dangling from the tree with both hands. The berries pop at her touch and she shrieks in pain. The image zooms at this point and I can see that the skin on her hands is trying to get away from the berry juice, and pulling itself away in curling strips, revealing raw veins and bone. The blood flows from her hands as she screams, and I lean over to turn the sound down from it's already low position. The skin continues peeling up her arms and the video ends, going back to the picture of her face. 

"There must have been a quicker way," I breathe. "Blowing the place up, something--" 

"This _is_ Manticore, Max. Breeding ground for cures and diseases, not just you guys." He looks at me and I back away slightly, not hovering over him any more. 

"How many are dead so far?" I ask, trying to be unmoved. That's me they killed. My genes, my blood. My designation. An eight-year-old child, left out in an orchard to peel and bleed to death just because Manticore felt defeated. The sickness in my stomach grows--I did this. The group of us destroying that lab did this. We're responsible. 

"Not sure. I was going to suggest bombing the field but--" 

"Eyes Only had better alert the public about the location of this place. I've gotta get to Gilette," I monotone. 

"I thought you'd have to kill me if I did that." He looks right at me, as if the plan forming in my head is completely and totally ridiculous. 

"Just do it. And book me a seat on the first bus to leave for Wyoming in the morning. What's the weather report for the next week for Gilette?" I feel a little wierd ordering him around, but I'll get over it. It's not like we're together any more. Sigh... 

"Blizzards. The entire state is pretty much shut down for a few days... Might be difficult getting in there." Hah, blizzard. Getting around in the snow near Manticore is dead-easy, I'll just wear white. 

"I'll get that covered," I explain. "All it takes is the bus to break down near a forest and I'll be all set. Book me under Max Guevera, by the way..." 

"Are you kidding me? Manticore will be on that in a second, and there'll be special ops everywhere. 'Hmm, wonder what Max Guevera is doing in Gilette, Wyoming... Whatever could she be doing there...'" Logan says the last part in a granny-like, english accent, trying to ease the downer mood of the conversation. I smile weakly. 

"Good. The more the merrier. I want Manticore to know I'm headed there... Just don't broadcast 'til I call you." The look on his face says he wants to say something and he avoids it until I get up to leave. 

"Have fun with Scott last night?" 

----- 

**Scott's POV**

"You're bullshitting me," I tell Max, taking a gulp of my cheap beer. We're at the Crash... It must be ten o'clock or something. A 112 song comes on as Max stirs her float... It's "Dance With Me" or something. They play a lot of that music here, I guess. She looks more uneasy around me than she did the other day. Wonder why. 

"I bullshit you not. Wow, they're really cheap on the clumpy ice cream tonight." It's funny that she tries to change the subject even after she brings it up... Max used to do that back in the day. Bring something up and then bring something else up when it went from a funny story to an uncomfortable one. 

"He was seriously here last night?" She nods. "So, what did he say?" 

"We were kissing outside." Her attempt at hiding her flushed cheeks behind her straw is pretty futile. 

"Are you serious?" I laugh. 

"And then, you know what? Like, oh my God, you will never, ever believe this! We went to your place and slept together," she says sarcastically. I chuckle and we're both quiet for a few moments. "So..." 

"So." 

"Manticore made berries that makes your skin peel. And now they make people pick them. So we're going to go and set free the Manticore kids that they're trying to kill because they're out of luck with new projects since we rigged the lab with bombs. That okay with you?" I take a second to process what she just said. Making their skin peel off? Fuck... I notice that I let her attempt at changing the conversation go by unnoticed. 

"Yeah, I'm fine with that. Do I get to be the sexy, heavily-armed Manticore guy who fake-tracks-you-down-and-says-that-he-killed-you and ends up saving your ass?" Max sighs with a giggle and says I can be the clown if I want. "So, what are we waiting for?" 

"There's a small Manticore headquarters office-type thing about two blocks from here. You turn yourself in from your latest mission--err, kidnapping--and they put you on bus 225 for Gilette, I hope, first thing in the morning--I told Logan to get me tickets for that one." She gets up to leave suddenly and I stand as well. Sighing, she tries to walk past me. 

"You have somewhere to crash tonight?" She still avoids me but eventually shrugs. "You could sleep at my place." 

"I'd better not," Max says awkwardly. 

"What are the choices? Asha's got Manticore on her ass, I doubt Logan's impressed..." She screws up her face like she's about to give a witty retort. 

"For one, I can more than handle Manticore and for another, like I give a _damn_ what the fuck Logan thinks. I'll stay with Ben--" 

"Which is so conveinent because Ben left town with a note pegged to your bike and stased the U-Haul in the underground parking lot at Caption Eyes Only's?" I've got her there and the look on the face shows that she knows it. Shrugging but not looking at me, she puts her thumbs through her belt loops and looks pretty defeated. 

"I hope you have a couch." 

The walk to my apartment is long and quiet, except for occaisonal shots of "get a car" and "well, maybe you should get an apartment". Max walks with her arms folded across her chest the entire way, huffing a sigh into the cold, December air every few minutes or so. We get to my place about half an hour after we leave. Max takes off her coat as soon as we get in and lies down on the couch, pulling the blanket folded over the top of it onto her and shuffling herself a little bit, closes her eyes with a sigh. I think she can tell that I'm about to to say something, because-- 

"Leave me alone, I am tired, and I am confused, and I have to go back to Manticore in the morning and I need to set up the entire plan in my sleep, so go away." 

"How witty." I go into the kitchen, which is just a few strides from my couch and TV, make myself some toast. She grunts, tells me to keep it down as I plunk myself down on the couch, on a part of the third cushion that her legs aren't occupying. 

"Do you mind?" Her curls bob slightly as she sits up suddenly, glaring. I shake my head, stuffing my face with the peanut butter toast I just made. "I mean it, I need some sleep, and _you_ need to go down and sign back into Manticore before they pronounce you legally dead and give you a gravestone and you screw over a few hundred kids." 

"I'll get over it," I tell her, wiping a little bit of peanut from the corner of my mouth with my tongue. Max is just pissed because there's someone in the world more stubborn than she. "And besides, I don't sleep, I'll go later." I feel her eyes on me and I turn to look at her, smacking loudly on my burnt toast, swallowing the piece I bit off and putting the rest of it on the coffee table. 

"You're really fucking annoying." There's no malice to her words and she puts a hand on the back of my neck, pulling me to her and kissing me suddenly, full on the lips. I put my hands on her face to pull her closer to me, not resisting. Her lips part eagerly for me as we entangle our hands in each other's hair and she pulls me down towards the couch. 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN PREVIEW: TOO LATE AND TOO BAD**

"Don't know what you're talking about, Max," Logan says, still slowly backing away. "Squealing to who?" 

"To Manticore," I practically spit. We're almost at the window. If I shot him now, he'd freefall from twenty-six stories up. The phone cuts through the tension and I run over and grab it. "Hello?" 

"Logan's in a sewer tied to a chair. He says.. He says that you guys found Lydecker here once." It's Scott. 

"Yeah, guess what, Logan's been telling Manticore where we've been--" 

"Just get--" 

"Yeah, I'll be there in a--" A knife plunges into my back and a firm hand grabs my arm, and I drop the phone, trying to get out of his hold. He's too strong... Muttering something... And I can hear Scott's voice on the phone a few feet from me, yelling my name as I struggle for air and the world fades to black, and a loud crashing noise interrupts... 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

Read and review!! I need some opinions on this new storyline... Wow, anyone else watch MITM last night? Finally, a real effing plot! Can't wait to see what White is... I watched it on tape as well and you can definitely hear "Thank you for calling" during the Max vs. Goons sequence. Interesting--okay, and that's where I got the title for next week's chapter. :) 


	13. Too Late and Too Bad

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 13: Too Late and Too Bad  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Non-transgens have been turned into Post-Its! Run for your lives!  
**Rating:** PG 13

The sun hit her face and it dawned on her that she was alone. Fully clothed and alone. She remembered last night clearly; she had told him that she wanted to take the whole relationship thing slower, and she and Scott had ended up talking about the years they'd missed together and falling asleep. That was nice. Except for the fact that she was now sharing a bed with a Post-It note with the name "Scott" on it. 

"Oh my God," she breathed, picking up paper. "Scott, what have they done to you?" She stared blankly at the paper and it would not respond. Shoving him into her pocket, Max ran into the main room, grabbed her coat, and thundered down the stairs, passing a a Post-It note by the laundry room. Gingerly, she picked it up and held it in her hand and read the name. "Anaïs. Pretty." She pulled Scott out of her pocket and stuck him to Anaïs, then carefully placed the two in her coat pocket, then continued to the parking lot. 

**Max's POV**

I snap awake and look at the pillow beside me. A Post-It. 

_ Max,  
Went to get bus tickets. Decided to go as a civilian. I'll call you when I get the tickets. Dunno what to put at the end of this.  
Like,  
Scott. _

I smile at the "Like". Not sure about "love", but definitely not a cold "sincerely". Dressing quickly and going into the living room, the answering machine answering machine beeping at me, the PLAY button bends to my mental wishes with a faint beep, then Scott's voice. "Hey, Max. Getting a bus to Gilette at noon. Number six-three-five. I've got word on a hostage though, gonna go check that out before we go. See ya." The realization hit me that the late bus time gave me a few hours to go over to Logan's and hack into Manticore, get Scott, Ben, and Ima's files. Have to know who they are. 

My beautiful black beauty awaits me just outside Scott's building. Huh, I thought it was at Logan. It revvs when I flick my wrists, burns rubber when I gun it out of the lot and down the street to Logan's. I lose myself in the bike's loud hum, in the squealing tires when I turn the corner. Foggle Towers looms ahead and I bump up my speed. 

"Chill, Ima." I burst through the front door, replacing the pick in my pocket. "Logan around?" I get a firm headshake from her before she runs back into the kitchen. The computer practically screamed my name, Manticore's files wanting me to hack them. I stalk off to the computer room and sit down at the computer, logging in. 

_ Welcome to the Eyes Only Informant Net.  
Broadcast (b)  
Eyes Only Files (e)  
Manticore SeattleNet (s)  
Eyes Only Informants (i)  
Regular Computer (c)  
Log Off (l)  
HackerNet (h)  
Choose One: _

I look at the Manticore SeattleNet option, alarmed. What the hell is that? I select it, and a nice-looking screen is shown, with the Manticore symbol on top, and the pictures of escaped X5s below it, a list of names to the left and updates to the right. I study the photos--myself, Zack, Jace, Brin, Tinga, possibly Jondy, and Scott. The last four sport small checkmarks in the corners of their photos, and the others said "WANTED". 

My eyes dart to the name list, going down until I hit one i recognize. The last year and a half of my life flashes before my eyes. Breaking into this penthouse while Logan broadcasted his Eyes Only stuff. Me in this very apartment when my seizures were horrible after Cindy flushed my Trytopan. The car and the cabin. Waking up here after being a Red. Taking Logan out on my bike, kissing him ten feet away from where I now sit, going up on the needle with him, sleeping with him, dying in his arms. Seeing him and Asha together... Before that, I trusted him. Maybe even loved him, even after he lied to me about her. The non-existant friendship we had when we broke up. Everything I ever felt about him turned into fear, distrust, and pure hate as I read the line on the screen. 

_Logan Cale: Voluntary Operative_

I click on his name another nice-looking screen shows up, with a short description about how he is Eyes Only and is telling on me and my siblings to buy himself birthdays. I almost burst into tears. I trusted him--he made sure Manticore knew where we were. A few names are on the side: mine, Ima's, Ben's, Asha's, Scott's, Zack's, Jondy's, Jace's, Tinga's. It also says he's been an operative since September, 2020. 

A month before he met me... 

The door opens then, I hear it but I can barely see it through the glass panes that Logan's set up through his apartment. It's a stranger, I don't recognize the gait--no, it's Logan. I shut down his operative page and turned off the monitor, whirling in my seat to face him. 

"Whatcha doin'?" He asks in a normal tone, not his usual soft-spoken one. I pop the desk drawer open telekinetically and grab the gun, standing up slowly, keeping it trained on Logan. He backs off, hands up defensively. "What the hell?" 

"Been squealin' on us, huh? Since September or so, it seems," I tell him sternly, advancing on him a little bit. I can't believe I'm even doing this--threatening to shoot Logan. Manticore's gonna have my ass on a plate for this. 

"Don't know what you're talking about, Max," Logan says, still slowly backing away. "Squealing to who?" 

"To Manticore," I practically spit. We're almost at the window. If I shot him now, he'd freefall from twenty-six stories up. The phone cuts through the tension and I run over and grab it. "Hello?" 

"Logan's in a sewer tied to a chair. He says.. He says that you guy found Lydecker here once." It's Scott. 

"Yeah, guess what, Logan's been telling Manticore where we've been--" 

"Just get--" 

"Yeah, I'll be there in a--" A knife plunges into my back and a firm hand grabs my arm, and I drop the phone, trying to get out of his hold. He's too strong... Muttering something... And I can hear Scott's voice on the phone a few feet from me, yelling my name as I struggle for air and the world fades to black, and a loud crashing noise interrupts... 

**Logan's POV**

I watch Scott yell Max's name into the phone, knowing what he's going through, wishing she'd hold on. I guess that's the mistake I made--falling in love with her, worrying when I gave Manticore her location so they could get her. Giving Manticore her location. I wriggle in my bonds and realize that Scott doesn't know that I've been snitching on him to save my own ass. 

"Scott, are you gonna let me go, right?" He stops yelling and ends the conversation, give me a look. 

"Yeah right, you dumb fuck. Snitch much?" Crap, he knows... "This wouldn't be happening if you had just kept your trap shut." 

"I don't know what you're talking about," I tell him evenly. 

"What I'm talking about," he paces nervously, "is that some man is probably fucking choking Max in your apartment and faking being _you_ because you gave Manticore her location _and_ yours. She could be dead right now. Don't you get it? I.. I won't let that happen. And I'll make sure the person responsible dies a much more painful death than she's going to." He stops pacing, looking me right in the eye. "I care about her. And don't you say you do, because if you did, you wouldn't have arranged her death." 

"You think I had a choice? It was either that or die!" The volume of my voice competes with his. "Now let me go, and we'll sort this all out." 

"No, I will. Who did they send after her?" Scott's impatient as hell now, I'd better just tell him... 

"I think... There was a breeding program going on since about 10,000 B.C. This guy is invincible and whole lot stronger than you." 

"I'm telekinetic, remember? I can just make his heart stop beating. Can't live for long without that." He races off back down the sewer then, leaving me tied to chair. 

**Ima's POV**

I hoist Max up a bit from her sprawled position on the floor, large butcher knife stuck in her back. I'm no doctor, but I know that it's better to leave that in there until a professional can deal with it. Placing her on the floor softly amid the glass, I run to the phone, trying to go over the events of the last ten minutes calmly in my head. Logan got home, went into the computer room with Max, a small shriek, and then a crash, then Max on the floor in a pool of blood. I never, ever thought he'd do that. 

I pound the 9 button, and then the 1 button twice, carefully explaining what happened. When the operator asks for a physician, I remember something abotu a Doc Carr and tell her to get him and no one _but_ him. She says okay in a cheerful tone and then tells me that the ambulance and police are on the way, and to not disturb Max's body, just make sure she keeps breathing. I hang up and go back over to her. 

She looks small, and innocent on the floor, knife still lodged. I squat down beside her head, pressing my fingers to her neck, smiling when my fingertips feel her strong heartbeat. I hold my hand an inch or so from her mouth and feel her unstable breathing, then back away when I realize what's going to happen no. She's probably going to die, or end up in Manticore's hands. I rush to the broken window and look around for Logan. No where to be seen. No splat or anything. That perturbs me a bit and I go back to Max, holding my fingers to her neck, whispering for her to please, please hold on... 

The door bursts open and I quickly take the gun out of my jacket, inching over to the glass pane near Logan's computer, carefully turn my head so I can see the figure just beyond it. Scott manages a weak smile, relieved that someone's here, and then runs over to Max. 

"Did you call the paramedics?" He asks worriedly, checking her pulse. I replace my gun and sigh a yes. "What... What happened?" 

"Logan came home and... And he stabbed her in the back and then jumped out the window, I--" 

"Logan's tied to a chair in a sewer, Ima," he says, giving me a frantic glance. 

----------------------- 

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN PREVIEW: KARMA**

"No, I want him to through at least half the pain my siblings did." His voice sounds worse, like he's feeling sick to his stomach about this. "If it wasn't for him, Tinga would be alive, Max would be okay, Brin would be too... Do it before I change my mind." I hang up and pull a Swiss Army Knife from my pocket and walk over to Logan. He looks worriedly at it as I put a hand on his forehead and flick the knife open. 

"W-w-what the hell are you doing?" He struggles in his bonds but I hold him fast. 

"Proving that Karma's a bitch. Whatever you do hits you back three fold, in case you didn't know. Close your eyes." I bite my lip, wanting to put more malice behind those words than I did. A single tear runs down my cheek... 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

I wrote this almost ten times, trying to get it right. Originally Scott betrayed them but that looked a little obvious, so I decided to do this instead. How do you guys like the twist? 


	14. Karma

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 14: Karma  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine. Character death.  
**Summary:** What goes around comes around...  
**Rating:** PG 13

**Asha's POV**

I stand by the wall of the sewer as Logan dozes, nervous. Ever since Max's stabbing yesterday... I don't know. Scott's been staying at the hospital in case they come after her again, but like Logan told him... Those guys are invincible. And obviously have very good disguises. I've got Logan watch right now, little unexperienced me guarding my ex-boyfriend from muscular people who do not feel pain. We haven't yet decided what we're going to do about him, but everyone's leaning towards slitting Logan's throat as soon as Max can be transported. 

I still can't believe it. Logan was making sure Manticore knew about the S1W just to make sure that they didn't kill him for being Eyes Only. He wakes a little bit and I'm at his side with a speed I didn't know I had, his shirt collar clutched in my hand. "I'm gonna kick your ass," I spit. 

"What? For what? Oh, that..." Logan looks away from me, avoiding my glare. I yank on his shirt to get him to look at me, getting right in his face in the proccess. "Look, now that you guys now, we can all just get out of Seattle and forget--" I yank harder on his shirt. 

"We might be able to do that if any of us trusted you any more," I bark. He shrugs calmly. "You didn't tell me about Max... You didn't tell me about _anything_. If Max hadn't come back I'd still be in the dark about Eyes Only." I shove his shirt back into his face and walk a few feet away, seething. 

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't tell Max about you either," he says hoarsely. "And she wouldn't have known about Eyes Only if she hadn't dropped in on one of my broadcasts." 

"Fuck you," I mutter under my breath. My cellphone rings and I answer it, turning away from Logan. 

"They're onto us," Scott tells me, voice broken from being upset, probably over Max. "Slit his throat and get your ass to the Crash... We'll meet you there..." 

"There's got to be a faster way to... Y'know," I whisper, not wanting Logan to hear. Oh my God. They chose me to kill him. I had a feeling it would come to this, murdering Logan to keep him from telling Manticore where we were again. 

"No, I want him to through at least half the pain my siblings did." His voice sounds worse, like he's feeling sick to his stomach about this. "If it wasn't for him, Tinga would be alive, Max would be okay, Brin would be too... Do it before I change my mind." I hang up and pull a Swiss Army Knife from my pocket and walk over to Logan. He looks worriedly at it as I put a hand on his forehead and flick the knife open. 

"W-w-what the hell are you doing?" He struggles in his bonds but I hold him fast. 

"Proving that Karma's a bitch. Whatever you do hits you back three fold, in case you didn't know. Close your eyes." I bite my lip, wanting to put more malice behind those words than I did. A single tear runs down my cheek. 

"Ash--" I swipe the knife across his throat and back away by a foot or so. He screeches in pain and it's like a twisting knife in my soul. I spot some duct tape under his chair and tape his mouth shut so I can't hear him plead with me as the blood dribbles down his chest. 

"I'm so sorry, Logan," I sob, cleaning the knife off on his shirt and replacing it in my pocket. "But you've... You've destroyed _everything_. Anything any of us ever felt for you... Especially Max... I bet she was really pissed off at you before your buddy stuck her _in the fucking back with a Ginsu knife!_" I mop the tears away with the back of my hand and leave the sewer. 

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** CHAPTER FIFTEEN PREVIEW: GOODBYE TO YOU **

I went to Logan's penthouse a week or so after we'd decided to stay in Montreal. It was untouched and creepy; the smiling man who had sat at the computer would never smile again, I'd never hear his voice, feel his touch. He'd never again save the world. At that moment, it didn't matter that he'd helped in my near-death twice. I understood that he kept himself alive, put me in danger, whisked me out of it without Manticore knowing who it was. I felt so hoirrble for not being awake, being the sensible one that would figure out a way for Logan to stay alive. I sat on the floor for hours, wondering what he was thinking when--if--he found out that I knew that he was ruining my life... 

----------------------- 

**AUTHOR NOTE**

I wrote chapter fifteen before this chapter, then decided that for a lot of it to make sense, I needed a chapter in between. Read and review. :) 


	15. Goodbye to You

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 15: Goodbye to You  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max has healed up, but the world is still a broken place.  
**Rating:** PG 13  
**A/N:** It gets a little bit smutty about halfway through, but nothing you wouldn't see on the actual show. :) Also, I accidently uploaded chapter 14 instead of this! Whoops! 

**Max's POV**

Tap, tap, tap go the keys on my laptop. Psych papers are a real bitch to do in only one night, but when that's all you've got, that's all you've got. Softly, I close up my notebook computer and lie back on my bed. The two-bedroom I share with Asha is cozy and comfy, with her Ikea-flavoured taste in furniture practically coating the apartment. Much to her discontent, I painted my own room crimson red and not white, put in cheap Pergo flooring instead of her incredibly short, library-esque carpet that covers the other floors. I kept with the light-coloured wooden shelves, though, because it went with the crimson and Pergo. But other than that, my room is dark, like my mood. 

I remember that night hazily, almost a year ago. Hacking into Logan's computer, then having him stab me in the back--literally. I remember waking up at the hospital with Scott's overjoyed, smiling face looking at my own, then everyone except Logan whisking me away to a truck they'd stolen. Ben had been the one to kill Logan, or so they told me. Scott told me the truth, though; Asha did it. I avoided them both for two weeks. She just went to the sewer and slit his throat. She doesn't know that I know. 

I was depressed for almost two months following that. I'd been betrayed in a severe way by the man I'd loved and trusted and the one I currently did, stabbed, ripped out of the city and country I'd called home for so long, torn from my friends. Once we'd settled into Montreal for good however, I forced myself out of being depressed, not just for me, but also for Scott. It hurt him horribly that I was so unhappy; I was unwilling to socialise, go out, do anything. Fuck, I avoided him for almost two weeks--again. 

I went to Logan's penthouse a week or so after we'd decided to stay in Montreal. It was untouched and creepy; the smiling man who had sat at the computer would never smile again, I'd never hear his voice, feel his touch. He'd never again save the world. At that moment, it didn't matter that he'd helped in my near-death twice. I understood that he kept himself alive, put me in danger, whisked me out of it without Manticore knowing who it was. I felt so hoirrble for not being awake, being the sensible one that would figure out a way for Logan to stay alive. I sat on the floor for hours, wondering what he was thinking when--if--he found out that I knew that he was ruining my life. 

I'd take a breath and burst into tears when I realized Logan would never take in another gasp of air, that he bled to death in a sewer from a two-inch cut in his neck, hands tied behind his back. I'd sit at the computer and stare at the blood stain in the carpet that I'd left, the place where we'd shared our first actual kiss all those nights ago. I knew by then that he'd been with Asha at the time, but that didn't matter. I did love him, before we broke up. And I still cared about him after that. He'd been my best friend for so long, and it took a long time for the fact that he was a bad person to sink in. It still hasn't really hit me yet. 

The phone rang while I was over there; it was his cousin Bitsy, wondering if anything had happened to Logan, because he hadn't been home in two months. I bit my tongue and asked who Logan was--said that I lived there alone. She said goodbye and hung up. It hurt that his family still didn't know, but I couldn't bring myself to tell them. I sit back up, yawn softly, and pop my laptop back open as Asha bursts into the room. 

**Asha's POV**

Max's curly-haired head flicks up when I open her door. Every time I see her face, I feel horrible about lying to her about who killed Logan. I can still feel the cold knife in my wand, swiping across his neck... I feel sick every time I think about it. Slitting his throat and leaving him there to bleed to death. It was a pretty superficial slit, nothing that couldn't be healed if the right person got there quick enough. Every day, I wonder if he's still out there somewhere. Max asks what I want and I snap out of my daze. 

"Artificial or real tree?" I ask, completely forgetting that I was here to tell her the truth about Logan. She gives me a look and goes back to tip-tapping away on her laptop. 

"I don't celebrate Christmas," she mutters, tucking a raven curl behind her ear and out of her face. "And I doubt that's why you took the time to talk to me. Hurry up, I'm in a pissy mood." 

I lean against the doorframe. "No shit. I gotta tell you about something." 

"Okay, shoot," she says, slamming the laptop shut and looking at me intently, giving me her full attention. I walk over to the end of her bed and sit on the edge of it, biting my lip, taking a deep breath and sighing it out. We're both silent for a couple of minutes, until she speaks. "Look, I've got a psych paper due tomorrow at nine in the a.m., make this snappy." 

"I killed Logan," I blurt out. "But I figured that Ben was leaving and the others thought it would be okay if I pinned it on him." Max suddenly looks much more sour, about to slap me. I can't believe I just did that. We've never been best friends; we're pretty much roommates who greet each other ever so often. I bet she dislikes me even more now. 

"I know," she says evenly. "You should've told me in the first place. Are you going out tonight?" I nod and leave, not sure what else to say. 

**Max's POV**

Asha leaves then. Fuck, she should've told me. Didn't she realize that's why I avoided her for so long and still try not to talk to her? I open my laptop back up and the front door opens, so I creep out of the room, peeking around the corner. Scott flashes me a smile and I relax, kissing him hello. 

"Asha's not around, is she?" He asks, setting down a medium-sized, festive-looking bag. Crap, I forgot to get him something... Seeing as we're Manticore kids, we don't techincally have birthdays, so we get to skip giving each other gifts then. But Christmas is something else. Something I didn't get to celebrate last year. Every time I think about that, I get a sharp pain in my back. I shake my head at him in response and lead him into the kitchen. 

"So, Asha told me that she killed Logan," I say, trying to make conversation. I don't feel like talking about it any more; the subject is so tired now. 

"'Bout time," he tells me easily, getting a can of Spaghettio's out of the cupboard. That was the thing about Logan, when he got something out of the cupboard, he didn't microwave it... Damn, I'm going to be thinking about him all week now. Stupid Asha. "Spaghettio's?" 

"Hell yeah!" I say enthusiastically, grabbing myself a can and shoving it in the under-cupboard opener, flicking the small machine on. I take the can off and Scott swings his own can into the opener, as if we've done this a million times. Oh wait, we have. I grab a bowl and pop open the microwave. 

"So, who's the bag for?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at him. 

The can opener jams and spews spaghetti sauce on Scott's face. I turn around, giggling as he wipes it off. "It's for you. Not 'til Christmas, though." 

"Aiight." I toss another glance over my shoulder. "Can't I have it now?" He smiles and nods, then goes into the other room for a moment and returns with... Nothing. "Where is it?" I ask. He pulls a small box out of his pocket and the world suddenly goes slow-mo. He sure as hell isn't giving me a birthstone ring. I don't have a birthday. Promise ring? I hope. Please, don't let it be a... 

"Max," he says, taking my hand, a lone spaghettio noodle staring at me comically from his cheek, popping open the box. The ring... Oh my God, the ring. Beautiful in it's simplicity is the best phrase I can think of to describe it. A single cunk of diamond, not raised too much over it's slim, white-gold band. I still do a lot of ass-kicking, he probably wouldn't want it to snag or break. "I am seriously about to piss myself, I... Max Guevara, will you marry me?" 

I wrap my arms around him, sharing a brief kiss and pulling away about an inch. "I will," I smile broadly. 

"Thank God," he returns my stupid, toothy grin and kisses me. "Asha gonna be around tonight?" 

"Hell no," I grin slyly. He slips the ring onto my left ring finger, our lips meeting again. Scott's mouth moves to my neck and I let out a small moan, almost not hearing the distinct noise that someone makes when they're about to open your apartment door. "There's someone outside," I moan, hands travelling to take off his shirt. Mmmm, he has the nicest abs... His slightly cold hands go up my shirt, sending a shiver down my spine. 

"Who cares," Scott says, going back to kissing me on the mouth. We break apart only to take off his shirt and he realizes my own is a button-up, casual blouse with a camisole underneath and just undoes it. The door opens and we pull apart, him throwing his shirt back on and me buttoning myself up. I see the shocked expression on Scott's face and whirl. 

"Asha," I call, running a hand through my hair and walking into the living room. She hangs up her coat lazily, the expression on her face one of pure joy. 

"I got promoted," she says giddily. "They want me in Miami by New Year's Day. Isn't that great? I'm going to be lead supervisor at one of the automotive plantes there!" 

"That's great!" My enthusiasm is faked, but Scott, her, and I share a big group hug. "So when are you moving out?" 

"Tomorrow! Sorry I couldn't be around for Christmas and all..." 

"Actually, that works out really well, 'cause... Max, you wanna tell her?" I shake my head, encouraging him to go on. "We're getting married," he smiles, putting an arm around me. I grin goofily at Asha and the happiness is pretty much mutual. Marriage... 

"That's awesome. I'm gonna go to bed." And she does just that, pretty much ruining my plans for the evening. Me and Scott sit on the couch instead, bored. The TV flicks on at my mental will and we snuggle a bit. Eleven o'clock news. How exciting. I tingle at Scott's touch, enjoying just being near him, safe in his arms. 

"Our top story tonight... A brand new exposition at Museum on the Bay, the most elite museum in the entirety of Seattle to most. Aptly named 'U-neek 22', it's this year's version of unique items you actually want to see: Home run balls, outfits worn by famed pop idols of the past forty years, and an exquisite red dress that was donated to the museum by a Logan Cale approximately three months ago." Scott and I both stiffen at Logan's name. 

"I'm going to have to pay a visit to the Bay," I tell him, getting up. He asks me what I'm going to do and I've got his answer ready before he had the chance to blink. 

"He must be a Friend of the museum... A donator. Gotta pull his file and look this 'Logan Cale' up." 

"No, you don't," Scott tells me, gently pulling me back down to the couch. "There must be a million Logan Cales in the world." 

"Better safe than dead. I'll call you." I blow him a kiss, grab my coat and keys and head for the Museum on the Bay. 


	16. Heist

**"Float Like A Butterfly"**  
Chapter 16: Heist  
by: Mochaije

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.   
**Summary:** Max goes after Logan.  
**Rating:** PG 13  
**A/N:** This is the end, there is no more. Character death. **Also** I know that the ending has been done a million times, but are you going to go after everyone who does a Max-and-Logan's-daughter story? No. :) 

**Max's POV**

I rocked slowly back and forth atop the highest tower of the Museum on the Bay. My right hand moved to my left, fingering my beautiful, perfect-fitting engagement ring. It felt wrong, like Logan should've ben the one to give it to me, not Scott. I missed so much with him, and it wasn't even his fault. I felt like I was with Scott because I couldn't be with Logan, even though it wasn't true. Scott was gorgeous; my best friend since I knew what the word 'trust' meant and that I shouldn't 'trust' anyone. We'd also missed so much together, but it was because I'd saved his life, not helped in ending it. 

I ached for Logan's presence when I'd found out he had passed at Asha's hands. His voice, his touch, his kiss. Don't get me wrong, I loved and still love Scott with all my heart, but I can't decide who was meant to be my better half. A friend and an ally, one alive, and one... Well, that's what I was at the Museum for, to find out if Logan's out there. I wouldn't tell the others if he was living, I'd deal with him myself. It's just too wierd that he's around here when there's so many other places to be. The stars in the unusually cloudless sky of Montreal dance before my eyes, searchlights roaming, looking for trash like me. All I wanted was a file, and I could probably hack their network and get it. But it was just wierd with both Scott and Asha around... My heart lept into my throat and I realized I couldn't go through with this. Any of it. I couldn't be with Scott, I couldn't break into this museum . Physically I could, but I... Couldn't. 

The searchlight flew by me by about an inch and I realized that it followed an unpredictable path--either that or the programmed path was very long. My watch told me that I'd been perched here for almost an hour, and most searchlight paths last ten minutes. From my squatting position, I connected the cable, stood, and dropped. Deja vu hit me hard mid-swing--I'd done this before, at Logan's apartment. Catching myself, I landed gracefully on an oversized railing and disconnected, letting the cable swing right through the searchlight. The alarms blazed outside my ears and I knew then that this was the turning point. Run from all of this and go back to Scott, or possibly find Logan and get myself killed in the process. Frantically, I kicked in the small window without much noise and dropped in, lowering my stance and sneaking around the empty halls until I found the room that I was looking for. The lab. The room where everything that needed to be on paper was kept. I took my lockpick from my pocket and went at it. 

There were footsteps behind me--and an incessant whirring--, but I didn't mind them. I was a genetically engineered killing machine, not a stupid kid, I could take out anyone in this building. I whirled anyway and almost dropped dead at the sight of the person standing about thrity feet from me, on the stairs. Hair still spiked, glasses still petite and round, his usual brown leather jacket and almost-jeans. I finished picking the lock and opening the door and another alarm started. Logan just casually walked over, his stagger giving me chills. He was too confident; this was definitely a trap. 

"Let's see your neck," I demanded, grabbing him and pulling away any clothing from that area. A two-inch-long scar, fading fast, looked at me. I shoved Logan away a few feet. "How the hell are you still alive? And could we continue this later? Security's gonna be on my ass in about three seconds." 

"I'm _alive_ because Asha used a little Swiss Army knife to ever-so-slightly cut my neck. It had scabbed over by the time I passed out. Some bum found me and I was hospitalized for malnourishment, dehydration, and severe blood loss. In case you were wondering." He coughed slightly. "So why are you alive?" 

"Ima was in the apartment when 'you' came home. I have to go." I went to leave but he grabbed my arm. "What the hell do you want? I have to get back to Ohio before my bus leaves." The lie about my current homestate looked believable. 

"Why are you here?" He asked. I didn't struggle against his hold. 

"You and my dress were on the televis..." My voice drifted away as Logan pulled a knife out of his pocket. I struggled and found that I couldn't. He had me in a rock-hard grip. 

"Surpise. You probably should've caught Logan the Clone after he escaped from your apartment. Because now, the deja vu is gonna hit so hard, you're gonna die. And you _are_ going to die this time." His cold look sent icy shivers down my spine as I wriggled under his hold some more, kicked him in the gut to no effect. 

"Suprised?" He chuckled, sending icy shivers up and down my body, from my hair to my toenails. "You guys are the new kids on the block when it comes to being strong and elite... You have no idea." I suddenly remembered something and used my free arm to jam my elbow into his face. He bled; nothing more. The fear must've been more apparent on my face then. 

"Pain is a phantom of the mind," he yells, shaking me with an iron grip on both arms now. I spotted a fireaxe about forty feet away and a heavy-looking artifact not far from it. I looked right at Logan, or whoever this was, closed my eyes, and heard a satisfying smash, a whistling noise of a sharp object being thrown, and then the gush and crack of two arms being sliced off. I backed away immediately as Logan's useless forearms fell from my own. 

"No, _Logan_, it's you who doesn't have any idea." Sickness washes over me as I realize I may of hurt a man who might be Logan, but he attacks with his legs. I sprang up to one of those flag-like objects that they hang from the top of museums and grabbed onto the bar holding it there. A window crashed open suddenly, right behind Logan, Scott springing on him. **The axe, the axe! He doesn't feel pain, we gotta decapitate him!** He seemed to have gotten that message, because he dove for the axe and cealnly cut off Logan's head. I knew from experience that the body could still support itself for up to thirty seconds and in that timeframe, he was much more dangerous than before, when he actually had a head. Scott jumped into a flying kick and sent Logan's bloodied body for a four-stoery freefall, then hand-motioned for me to jump down from the bar. Instead, I lifted myself of fan dcalmly floated to where Scott stood. 

"Like I said... You could've just hacked the goddamn computers," he smiled weakly, more at the fact that I was in one piece than at the fact that I was here in the first place. The guards started up the stairs and we dashed through them, to the main level and through the doors, stopping only when I spotted something. 

Ninja 600, black and inviting, with many different parts to it than had originally come with the beautiful machine. Most had been replaced, some added on. The leather seat was squeaky-clean, handlebars shining despite their leather coating. The windshield twinkled mystically, my old sunglasses sitting on the controls, keys still in the ignition. I gasped. 

"That _was_ Logan," I breathed. "Oh my God. We killed him." 

"No, it wasn't, Logan wasn't all 'can't feel anything'. Let's go... Wanna take this bike?" 

"It's my bike," I whisper, straddling it, running my hands over the handles, looking up at Scott. "It's mine." He hops on as well and I put on my glasses, shoving the keys in the ignition and revving it, then taking off. We blazed around town for almost ten minutes, not needing my brakes at all, until we hit a dead-end.. A brick building. I slammed on the brakes to no effect. Logan had rigged this bike. It was a trap, and we were going to die. Scott's hold tightened around my torso and he yelled for me to stop as we closed in on the building. No room for me to swerve... Fifty feet and closing. 

"I love you, Scott," I shrieked over the sound of the motorcycle. I couldn't tell him. Couldn't let him know that I had--unknowingly--led him to his death. Couldn't. 

"I love you too, Max," he says, holding me so tight and I almost can't breathe. I could smell the fear on him, he knew what was going to happen. Twenty feet and closing. We were going almost eighty miles an hour. 

"Goodbye, my love," I turn quickly and kiss him as the motorcycle hits the wall. 


End file.
